1 Samuel: leadership training. These next chapters show us how a leader leads people into deeper commitment. Eli fails in that disastrously (ch2); somehow he doesn’t take sin seriously enough, but allows himself to join in the fruit of his sons’ sins. Samuel too fails with his own kids (8:3; our kids do have free will); but clearly he had a seriousness that Eli lacked.
Ch7 is a key chapter where God uses Samuel to bring all Israel back to Himself. Leadership training: how does this work?
Something terrible had happened. Through the darkest days of Judges, God’s glory had been revealed around the Ark; but now Israel’s sin had hit such a point that God allowed the Ark to be captured by the Philistines, and in utter tragedy (4:21) `the glory [of God’s unique, visible presence] has departed`. It’s one of the old testament’s darkest moments. But – encouragingly – amidst all this, God’s strategy continues. The Ark is recovered by His power alone (ch6). But the Shiloh sanctuary has been destroyed, and for the next 20 years there is nothing of the presence of God. And slowly God’s Spirit creates a yearning in the hearts of Israel: a sense of tragedy, that `the glory has departed`. `Twenty years in all… The people of Israel mourned and sought after the Lord` (7:2).
What does this have for us? `The glory has departed`: does God see us the British Church where He’d want us to be? Our media full of filth and twistedness; our marriages disintegrating, and our children deeply damaged; our companies defiling His global environment, getting rich from making weapons that slaughter the innocent, pouring out porn that defiles whole nations. What can the church do about it all? Apparently very little; and our grandchildren may grow up in a society of very deep darkness. Looking at our culture’s history we see slow, steady decline: the glory has departed. Do we hear 7:2?
So what is it to (v2) seek after the Lord? This is not just knowing facts about God. Nor is it just doing the right things. In a courtship it could never be enough to know about the person, nor just to do what they want; we long to really know them. And, it’s not the same as enjoying God’s gifts. We need that longing: God, we need Your presence, because the glory has departed and our country is slipping into darkness and we are powerless. We need You; we need You.
So then: God loves us, and sometimes He waits, as He did for 20 years here with Israel. What does God wait for as we seek His presence?
Firstly, He waits for a deep hunger, a holy discontent. (v2; Matthew 5:6.) We can be good Christian people and not have that longing for His lost presence. Let’s foster it, desire Him, seek Him; plead with Him. And secondly, God waits for the humility of repentance, v6. It’s what John the Baptist called Israel back to (Matthew 3); repentance, the passionate desire to do what He wants, to be free from any kind of sin; for radical purity.
So, twenty years. God in His wisdom gives us this sort of time until we really want Him. Samuel waits too; God has brought him here for this, but he waits. But then there comes a time when as a leader he senses it’s time to move. He sees there’s not total consistency yet – v3 – but there is a heart of longing for God. So the first thing Samuel challenges them about is idolatry (v3). It may be the same with us. What are the things we dream about, long for most? Things to do with our work, with finding a partner, with wealth safety and comfort, with achievement, with coolness and image, with gadgets? As Jesus says, the pagans run after all these things, but if we seek first His kingdom, He’ll see to the rest. The repentance that really seeks God may well involve a specific sorting-out, a putting the idols in their place. We see here (v6) it’s embodied specifically in fasting, and claiming God’s cleansing. There’s no point in talking about hunger for God Himself if this is not there; it may mean all we really what is an experience, or power. But God’s Spirit is the Holy Spirit, and it’s only if there’s serious repentance, serious heart searching and redirection, that our hunger for God really means anything.
And then God responds to this repentance in an unexpected way: disaster strikes (v7). Their powerful Philistine enemies – who last time killed 40,000 of them – sense a threat and head their way. The Israelites’ newfound faith is put to the test immediately. But this is not a sign that they’re doing something wrong; it’s a sign that they now have a faith worth testing; as 1 Peter says, these trials come so that their faith in God may be proved genuine – it’s faith in God, not mere self-confidence. And so they cry out to the Lord, and God answers spectacularly (vv9-13).
One last lesson from v12. Samuel sets up a big stone as a reminder. Our faith can zigzag; we can lose the passion; we need reminders. Why not write a letter to yourself? One to be read in 3 years, another in 5? Asking your future self: Am I still serious about God?
What is the word of the Lord here for me? We know the glory has departed. Am I happy with how things are? With a sense of spiritual toothlessness? We need to take time to wait on God, to ask Him for His presence; perhaps as families, husband and wife together, son and father. Time to search our hearts about idolatry, and repentance, and to say, Lord, above all I want You. Make time to pray with someone. `You will find the Lord if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul!` (Deut 4:29). `You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart!` (Jer 29:13).
