"And Samuel said to all Israel, "Behold, I have obeyed your voice in all that you have said to me and have made a king over you. 2And now, behold, the king walks before you, and I am old and gray; and behold, my sons are with you. I have walked before you from my youth until this day. 3Here I am; testify against me before the LORD and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? Testify against me and I will restore it to you." 4They said, "You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man’s hand." 5And he said to them, "The LORD is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand." And they said, "He is witness." 6And Samuel said to the people, "The LORD is witness, who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. 7Now therefore stand still that I may plead with you before the LORD concerning all the righteous deeds of the LORD that he performed for you and for your fathers. 8 When Jacob went into Egypt, and the Egyptians oppressed them, then your fathers cried out to the LORD and the LORD sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your fathers out of Egypt and made them dwell in this place. 9But they forgot the LORD their God. And he sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab. And they fought against them. 10 And they cried out to the LORD and said, 'We have sinned, because we have forsaken the LORD and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. But now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, that we may serve you.' 11And the LORD sent Jerubbaal and Barak and Jephthah and Samuel and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you lived in safety. 12And when you saw that Nahash the king of the Ammonites came against you, you said to me, 'No, but a king shall reign over us,' when the LORD your God was your king. 13And now behold the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked; behold, the LORD has set a king over you. 14If you will fear the LORD and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the LORD your God, it will be well. 15But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then the hand of the LORD will be against you and your king. 16Now therefore stand still and see this great thing that the LORD will do before your eyes. 17 Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call upon the LORD, that he may send thunder and rain. And you shall know and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking for yourselves a king." 18So Samuel called upon the LORD, and the LORD sent thunder and rain that day, and all the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel. 19And all the people said to Samuel, "Pray for your servants to the LORD your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king." 20And Samuel said to the people, "Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. 21And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. 22 For the LORD will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make you a people for himself. 23Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way. 24 Only fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. 25But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king." 1 Samuel 12:1-25
One of the reasons that we fail to love God as we ought is because of spiritual amnesia. That is to say, we forget who God is and we forget who we are. God’s design in the Bible is that we come to know him and that we come to know ourselves. There are two revelations in Christianity: the revelation of God and the revelation of ourselves. We never really see ourselves until we see ourselves in the presence of God; and then we are appalled at the sight. In 1 Samuel 12, we see God revealing His greatness, and we learn about ourselves from the Jews in Samuel's time. And what we learn about ourselves are some of the subtle reasons why our understanding and love for God is so small. And the reason he exposes our sin in this way is to help us see our great need, and how He alone can meet it. Jesus says, "He who is forgiven little, loves little"(Luke 7:47)and "we love because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19).
It is always good to be freshly reminded of God and ourselves in order to kindle the flames of love in our soul. I was reading 1 Samuel 12 and became re-amazed by grace all over again.
God was the divine king of Israel but Israel began demanding for an earthly king instead of a divine king (1 Samuel 8). In chapter 12:8-11 we read that the Lord “brought your fathers out of Egypt and made them dwell in this place. But they forgot the LORD their God. And he sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab. And they fought against them.And they [the people of Israel] cried out to the LORD and said, ‘We have sinned, because we have forsaken the LORD and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. But now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, that we may serve you. And the LORD sent Jerubbaal and Barak and Jephthah and Samuel and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you lived in safety.”
The point of those verses is to show that God was faithful as their divine king. When they cried to Him, He saved them. He gave them safety. What was their response? Verse 12, “And when you saw that Nahash the king of the Ammonites came against you, you said to me [Samuel], ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ when the LORD your God was your king.”
Can you hear the disbelief in Samuel’s voice? You asked for a king, when God was your king! What should Samuel do? The Lord had already told him in 1 Samuel 8:7-9, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. . . . Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”
So Samuel says in 1 Samuel 12:13b, “Behold, the LORD has set a king over you.” Then he calls on the Lord to give them a sign in thunder and rain, and he describes their sin as a great wickedness. Verse 17, “Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call upon the LORD, that he may send thunder and rain. And you shall know and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking for yourselves a king.”
Oh reader, can you see the light that God gives to awaken our spiritual amnesia? First, we learn from this how stiff-necked, rebellious, and unthankful we are. That’s why 1 Samuel 12 begins the way it does reminding the people how God saved them from Egypt, then gave them the promised land, and then rescued them from evil kings; and each time they forget God and go after other things. That is not just the story of Israel. It’s the story of humanity. It’s the story of my life and your life. How often, even as Christians, we are not consistent and steadfast in our affections for God. We have days we feel love and passion for Him and days that we don't. We have thankful days and unthankful days; and even our thankful days are not as thankful as they should be. Just think of how joyful and thankful you would be if your heart responded to God Himself and His ten million gifts with the admiration, appreciation, and gratitude that He is worthy of. So God in His kindness and love, awakens us by giving us pictures of ourselves in stories like this. He allows His people to drift into these kind of ungrateful and idolatrous seasons so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world held accountable before God (Romans 3:19).
Second, we learn from this how amazingly grace for sinners like us flows from God’s supreme allegiance to His own name in the midst of sin. Look at the amazing illustration of this in verses 19-22. In verse 19, the people are terrified at the sin they have committed against God. They say, “Pray for your servants to the LORD your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king.” The words that follow this are a picture of God's amazing grace to sinners. Samuel says to the people in verse 20, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil.”
Do you hear what is being said here? Please read this again! Stop right there and be amazed. Let the light of the holy Spirit illuminate the eyes of your heart and enlighten your mind to hear this astounding statement. “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil.” Isn’t that a misprint? Shouldn’t it say, “Be afraid; you have done all this evil.” But it says, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil.” That is pure amazing, divine, undeserved, grace. God’s grace always treats us not the way we deserve: “Be afraid; you have done all this evil.” (Without grace that would be our deserved and our appropriate response.) But instead God speaks through the prophet a word that God treats us exceedingly, stunningly, stupendously better than we deserve: “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil.”
How can this be? What is the basis of this grace? Not us! We have only done evil. We must never forget what sin is and how God sees it. What then? We’ve seen it already. Verse 22, "Don’t be afraid “for the LORD will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake.” God’s allegiance to His own name is the foundation of his faithfulness to you. If God ever forsook his supreme allegiance to Himself, there would be no grace for us. If He based his kindness to us on our worth, there would be no kindness to us. We are stiff-necked, rebellious, and ungrateful. Free, unmerited, undeserved grace is our only hope to be otherwise; and the basis of that grace is not the worth of our name, but the infinite worth of God’s name. Recall 2 Timothy 2:13, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.” God means for us to learn from this sin that the grace of our salvation is ultimately based not on our value to Him, but His value to Himself.
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways!"For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor?" "Or who has given a gift to Him that He might be repaid?" For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen Romans 11:33-36
My amnesia has been awakened and I again am amazed by grace, in awe with admiration, and in love with such a mighty and merciful God,
Pastor Bill
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