Samuel: The Partner in Prayer
1 Samuel 3: 1-10; 12:16-25
Readers’ Digest has a section called All in a Day’s Work where people write in humorous things that happen at work. Confiding in a co-worker, I told her about a problem in our office and my fear that I would lose my job. She was concerned and said she would pray for me. I know she keeps a list of 10 people she believes need her prayers the most, so I asked her if she had room for me on her list. “Oh yes,” she replied. “Three of the people have died.” Usually when someone intercedes for us, we want better results than that!
Tonight as we continue to look at prayers that made a difference, we will see a man that God greatly used. Recall two weeks ago we studied the prayer life of a woman named Hannah. A woman who so desired a child, a male child, that her promise was God if you will give me a son I will give him to you to be used for your service. God was faithful a granted her request and Hannah gave birth to a son, named him Samuel and gave him to God as she had promised.
Samuel was one of the last of the judges to rule over God’s people. He was a man who was obedient to God. But more importantly he was a man of Prayer. He was a man who interceded for the Nation of Israel. Even though the Nation of Israel had fallen away from God and made some bad decisions, Samuel never stopped praying for the Nation of Israel. In a sense he became there prayer partner. So tonight we are going to take a look at Samuel: The Partner in Prayer. Let’s look at this man and his prayer life…
I. Insistent Voice of God.
At an early age, most likely 3 years of age because that’s when a mother in those days weaned their children, his mother gave him to the priest Eli to serve the Lord in the temple. That was the promise that Hannah had made to the Lord if He would answer her prayers and let her give birth to a son.
That’s where we find Samuel in 1 Samuel 3:1-10. This passage tells of God speaking to this young boy named Samuel. Some say this was Samuel’s calling into the prophetic ministry and I personally agree with that.
At this time Samuel was probably twelve years old when the Lord spoke to him one night as he lay in the tabernacle "annex" where Eli was also sleeping. The "lamp of God" was the seven-branched golden candlestick that stood in the holy place before the veil of the Holy of Holies, to the left of the golden altar of incense. It was the only source of light in the holy place, and the priests were ordered to keep it burning always (27:20) and to trim the wicks when they offered the incense each morning and evening (30:7-8). The lamp was a symbol of the light of God’s truth given to the world through His people Israel. The problem though at this time was that the law was not honored by God’s people.
In this passage we see the Lord spoke to Samuel three times. The first 2 times Samuel thought it was Eli calling him. One of the marks of a faithful servant is an attentive ear and an immediate response. Notice Samuel’s attention and response. That attention and response carried over once he came to know God as his father. The voice was not Eli’s but rather it was God’s voice calling Samuel. But Samuel had never heard God’s voice, so he didn’t know who was calling to him. This is a great example of how important it is for those who are raised in Christian homes to make their own personal decisions for Christ. Like the Apostle Paul, Samuel’s call and conversion occurred at the same time, except that Samuel’s experience was at night while Paul saw a blazing light when he heard God’s voice (Acts 9:1-9). So the third time Samuel went to Eli, Eli was discerning enough to realize that God was speaking to the boy, so he told him how to respond.
Two very important things I want us to see here.
1. Samuel was in the right place to hear from God.
Spiritually, Samuel was ready to hear from God. Probably night after night he had slept in the same place, near the priest Eli, by the lamp of the God. But that night was different because that night he heard God for the first time. His heart was ready. His heart was spiritually in the right place to hear from God. Can the same be said about you and me? Is our hearts spiritually ready to hear from God? God has so much He wants to say and share with us but the problem is many of us miss out on those blessings because spiritually are hearts are not ready.
2. The Bible tells us God spoke to him three times.
God that night had a desire to speak to Samuel. He had a desire for Samuel to hear Him. That tells me that God desires to speak to His children. God desires to speak to you and me. But we have to be in the right place spiritually to hear from God. Are you in a place right now in your life where you can hear God? If God were to speak to you, would you know it was God? Do you know God’s voice?
If we were to read from this point on until we get to chapter 12 it would be made apparent to us that this was the Lord’s calling on Samuel’s life into the prophetic ministry. Samuel became a prophet and prophesied punishment for the nation of Israel because of their disobedience to God. This brings us to our second point tonight as well as our second passage of scripture found 1 Samuel 12:16-25.
II. Intercession for God’s People.
Now in our passage of scripture tonight we see that Samuel had been interceding for the Nation of Israel. In fact, the Nation of Israel had come to Samuel and told him they had made a mistake and they asked him to pray for them, in which, Samuel replied I never stopped praying for you. Samuel had been interceding for the Nation of Israel. They question is Why? To answer that question we need to understand some things first.
OT people lived under two basic forms of national government. The first form was a theocracy. That is, God Himself served as Israel’s King and Ruler, God gave His people a Law to live by. God led His people in battle, often intervening miraculously to ensure victory when they trusted in Him. God made every individual and community responsible to hold each other accountable to perform the moral, social, and religious obligations set out in the Law. This understanding of the invisible God directly ruling His people was expressed by Samuel, who was shocked and outraged when the people demanded a human king. Samuel recalled the Israelites’ reaction when they saw an enemy move against them: “You said to me, ‘No, we want a king to rule over us’- even though the Lord your God was your King.” (1 Sam. 12:12)
Now what’s interesting is that the Nation of Israel wanted a King, someone to be in control of them. If you look at the history of Israel you see that God, as King, had given His people human leaders. God had appointed Moses and Aaron, who brought Israel out of Egypt. Later, in the land, Israel had suffered oppression from human enemies but oppression had come only when the people turned away from God. When Israel turned back to God, the Lord sent the leaders known as Judges: people like Gideon, Barak, Jephthah, and Samuel. Through leaders like these, God won military victories for His people. The Judges were charismatic leaders sent by God as an expression of the Lord’s own kingship over Israel.
This is where the second form of government came into play. This is where the establishment of a monarchy for the Nation of Israel was initiated. This was the initiation of a different form of government for the Nation of Israel. Remember up to this point the Nation of Israel had been in a Theocracy or under the control of God the Father. God had called the shots which is the way it should be. From this point on the human leaders to whom Israel would owe allegiance to would, like the leaders of pagan nations around them, hold office not by virtue of God’s call but by virtue of birth. In other words, in this form of government the leaders would no longer be chosen by God but instead Kings would pass the right to rule on to their children, with no consideration of ability or of moral character.
So when in Samuel’s day the people of Israel called for a king, they performed a foolish act. That is, they showed a tragic lack of spiritual understanding. How? First of all, Israel’s call for a king was in fact a rejection of God’s traditional role in her national life. The desire of the people was for a king so that "we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and go out before us and fight our battles" (1 Sam 8:20). Yet from the start God had called Israel to be different from all other nations. As Moses had said, "What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to Him?" (Deut 4:7) It was Israel’s direct relationship with the God that set her apart from all other nations. In calling for a king, Israel in effect rejected God’s direct rule, and denied her unique heritage.
Second, with a king as the visible head of the nation, many would begin to rely on him rather than on God. Reliance would shift from God to the standing army and the fortifications the king would build. Erosion of reliance on God alone became a real and present danger.
Third, institution of the monarchy introduced unnecessary danger. Power and influence were focused on a human leader; a single individual who in turn could influence the nation. An evil king with the power of life and death over his people could make wickedness appear to pay as he rewarded those who were loyal to him rather than to God.
Now Moses had foretold a day when the people would demand a king, and the Law established requirements designed to minimize the dangers. He said: "When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, ’Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,’ be sure to appoint over you the king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your own brothers. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not a brother Israelite. The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, ’You are not to go back that way again.’ He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold". "When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the priests, who are Levites. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his brothers and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel" (Deut 17:14-20).
So Israel’s king was to surrender himself to the King of kings. A king who would not surrender to God could and would bring disaster on the nation. So the motives of the people of Israel in demanding a king were wrong. And they lacked the spiritual insight to see the implications of their request. Yet God granted it. But even though God had granted their wish Samuel still warned them of how important it was to still be obedient God while they were under the rule of their King. If they were obedient to God, He would still take care of them.
So having affirmed Samuel’s credibility as a prophet, the people now had to accept his breakdown of the situation. What Samuel began to do in chapter 12 is he reviewed Israel’s history from Moses to his own day and emphasized what the Lord in His grace had done for them.
He reminded them that it was God, not the people, who appointed Moses and Aaron (v. 6) and who enabled them to do the mighty works they did for the people of Israel. Samuel wasn’t afraid to point out Israel’s sins and then challenge them to devote themselves to the Lord and to His covenant. It’s often been said that the one thing we learn from history is that we don’t learn from history, and Samuel didn’t want his people to make that mistake.
But this was more than a lecture on history; it was also a court trial. Samuel’s words in verse 7 have a judicial flavor: "stand still" carries the idea of "Stand up, court is in session!" and "reason" means "to decide a case of legal action." Samuel was going to prove to the people that the Lord had been righteous and faithful in all His dealings with Israel, but that the Jews had been faithless and disobedient. The Lord had covenanted with no other nation on earth except Israel, and Israel’s obedience to that covenant made possible their enjoyment of God’s promised blessings. These blessings included living in the Promised Land, being protected from their enemies, and having fruitful fields, flocks and herds, and families. If they failed to obey, the Lord would discipline them and take away their blessings.
Samuel reminded them of how Israel in Egypt cried out to the Lord for help, and He sent them Moses and Aaron (1 Sam 12:8). God delivered His people and took them to Canaan and gave them victory over the inhabitants of the land. But once they were in the land, they compromised their faith and joined in worshiping the false gods of their neighbors; so God had to discipline them (vv. 9-11). Then Samuel went into the Book of Judges with its seven cycles of disobedience, discipline, and deliverance (Judg 2:10-23). Samuel’s point in reviewing Israel’s history was to show them that God always provided a leader when one was needed, and the nation wouldn’t have needed a judge if the people had been faithful to God.
So how should Israel have responded to this kind of national history? They should have expressed gratitude to the Lord and trusted Him for His continued care. They should have confessed their sin of unbelief and trusted Him alone. But what did they do? No sooner did the Ammonites attack than the Jews asked for a king and exchanged the rule of the Lord their King for the leadership of a mere man! God gave them what they asked for, but Israel lost something in the transaction.
However, all was not lost. God is never taken by surprise and He would not desert His people for His name’s sake. If the people would fear the Lord and follow Him, He would continue to care for them and use their king to direct and protect them. Now this is where we get to the prayer that made a difference. At this time, scripture tells us that Samuel demonstrated the awesome power of the Lord by "praying up a storm" during the dry season of wheat harvest (mid-May to mid-June). Samuel was proving to the people that God could do anything for them if they trusted Him and obeyed, but that a mere king was helpless apart from the Lord. When the Nation of Israel had seen this they began to beg Samuel for deliverance, they began to repent and their repentance at that time was sincere.
But then we see in v.20-25 Samuel moved from "Fear" to "Fear not" as he encouraged the people to accept the situation their unbelief created and make the most of it. How many times in our own lives do we get what we asked for and then wish we didn’t have it! The Lord would not reject or forsake His people because of His holy covenant and His great faithfulness. God’s purpose was to use Israel to bring glory to His name, and He would fulfill that purpose. The Jewish people knew the terms of the covenant: if they obeyed, the Lord would bless them; if they disobeyed, He would punish them. Either way, He would be faithful to His Word; the major issue was whether Israel would be faithful. They had made a mistake, but God would help them if they feared and obeyed Him.
Samuel made it clear that, no matter what they decided, he would obey the Lord. Part of his obedience would be faithfully praying for the people and teaching them the Word of God. The Word of God and prayer always go together. Samuel’s heart was broken, but as a faithful servant of the Lord, he interceded for the people and sought to lead them in the right way. In fact he told them that he had never stopped praying for them. Church listen to me, for God’s people not to pray is to sin against the Lord, yet if there’s one thing lacking in our churches today, it is prayer, particularly prayer for those in authority, staff, deacons, or each other.
Leonard Ravenhill said this in his book “Why Revival Tarries.” “No man is greater than his prayer life…Poverty–stricken as the church is today in many things, she is most stricken here, in the place of PRAYER. We have many organizers, but few agonizers; many players and payers, few PRAYERS. The ministry of preaching is open to few; the ministry of PRAYER- the highest ministry of all human offices is open to all."
III. Individuals
In closing, we can learn something from Samuel and that is even though the people had no need for him, Samuel did not stop praying for the people of God. Church, we are also commanded to pray for God’s people. That includes this nation, the President, Congress, your staff, deacons, SS teachers, the lost and each other. I believe that we should have someone specific to pray for by name. Do you have someone on your heart tonight God has burdened you with? If you do then take this time tonight to pray for them tonight. If not, then why not? Like Samuel, we are to be each others partners in prayer! We are to intercede for each other because intercession prayers are prayers that make a difference. Just remember that Uriah the Hittite was in the hottest part of the battle when his fellow soldiers withdrew from him on the command of King David - We do the same thing to our fellow soldiers when we withdraw our prayers from them.
