1 Samuel 12:17-18 Is it not wheat harvest to day? I will call to the LORD, and he shall send thunder and rain… The evidence of history to the truth is most in. valuable. It makes an appeal to the judgment which can be readily appreciated. and, next to experience, is one of the most convincing demonstrations of the divinity of the Scriptures. History may teach lessons of wisdom by its striking examples, but personal experience is essential to the awakening of the soul. This was what Samuel sought. 1. How near to God he seemed to live! He was always in Divine communion, and possessed the ear of the Almighty Father. He prayed, and the answer thundered through the air and deluged the ground. He spoke to men as the vice-regent of God, and the people trembled in his presence. But his nearness to God was not so close as is the privilege of the humblest believer in New Testament times. 2. How powerful is prayer! This was Samuel's greatness His intimacy with God was fully used in prayer. It was his highest means of doing good. The outer effort had the inner prayer. His labour among men was implemented by his wrestling with God. Prayer was the secret of his strength and of his happiness. Prayer is still powerful. It is receiving illustrations in our own day on a scale of grandeur and extent not equalled in any age of the Church. People have believed in the power of prayer, have felt its necessity and its efficacy. Conversions have been more largely the result of prayer than of preaching. Thus John Newton wrote in his journal: "About this time I began to know that there is a God who hears and answers prayer." Prayer is the strength of your soul, for it takes hold of God. Samuel's word to the people was with power. It was not until this special witness from God awakened them that they confessed, "We have added unto all our sins this evil, to ask us a king." It, is striking how long sin can remain upon a comparatively enlightened conscience without causing fear. But when the guilt is felt, compunction is often more agonizing than that which the sharp arrows of a first awakening produce. 3. They now sought Samuel's intercession. They knew him to be a man of prayer, and intensely concerned in their spiritual good. They therefore sought his aid in their distress. It is true that many have wished the intercession of the godly, without any personal desire to seek God: — as Pharaoh, when be entreated Moses to pray on his behalf; and as Simon Magus, when he asked St. Peter to plead that the evil threatened against him might not come; and as those who, fearing death to be near, attach a saving value to the prayers of the godly, whose counsels they had been despising. But though such may not receive a benefit from prayers offered by proxy, the prayers of a righteous man avail much in behalf of the awakened sinner. If you know the power of prayer, you cannot, without guilt, cease to intercede on behalf of your friends, acquaintances, and others. Is this intercession, a feature of your personal religion? It is specially important that anxious souls should seek the prayers of the people of God. God has pledged his word to receive the returning sinner, the repenting prodigal, the trembling backslider. "The Lord will not forsake His people for His great name's sake; because it hath pleased the Lord to make you His people." Thus Samuel reasoned with the children of Israel in their distress of soul. Thus did the faithful Samuel seek the spiritual conviction of the people. It was by declaring the truth, and abounding in prayer. Apart from the miraculous, this is the constant means of blessing attached to the ministry still. (R. Steel.) Parallel Verses KJV: Is it not wheat harvest to day? I will call unto the LORD, and he shall send thunder and rain; that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking you a king. |
    |