Intro

If you’re a regular part of our worship gatherings, you might be thinking, “That was quick. Didn’t we skip a song?” And you’d be right, normally we would do another song there. But I did it for a reason.

Last week before the worship service started, Mz. Barbara was sharing something with me, and I quoted words from the second verse of Shine into our Night to her.

That song struck a chord with me from the very first time I heard it. Part of the reason is that it puts our experience in such stark yet hopeful words:

Still we often go astray,
We chase the world, forget your grace
But you have never failed to bring us back

That’s an experience we’re all familiar with, isn’t it?. Often we go astray. We chase the world, want to be like them. We forget all that God has done for us, all that He’s meant to us. But the good news—the Gospel—is that He never fails to bring us back.

So we come back to Him, asking that He would shine His light into the darkest parts of our hearts, and bind us to His cross, because it’s there and only there that we find life.

This is what happens in Israel’s heart in 1 Samuel 7, where we pick the story back up today. If you have your Bibles, turn there with me.

Recap

Last weekend we took a whirlwind tour through chapters 4–6…

  1. Israel used the ark of the covenant as a divine good luck charm, a gold-covered rabbit’s foot, thinking it would lead to success in their battle against the Philistines. It didn’t, and they got slaughtered.

  2. God’s glory departed Israel, but it arrived in the cities of Philistia with power… and golden hemmorhoids!

  3. The Ark is miraculously brought back to Israel in a victory march.

  4. After God’s judgment falls on some Israelites again, the ark is moved to the care of a man named Eleazar in a little town called Kiriath-jearim.

Time went by until twenty years had passed since the ark had been taken to Kiriath-jearim. Then the whole house of Israel longed for the Lord.

1 Samuel 7:2

“Time went by,”—doesn’t it always?—“until twenty years has passed.” That’s a long time. 20 years ago…

That’s how long it was, and then Israel “longed for the Lord”, like a long lost friend.

Last time we saw Samuel he was a boy, maybe early teens at the most. Now he’s a grown man, he’s been the prophet in Israel for a while, and he has some well-founded doubts about Israel’s sincerity.

Samuel told them, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, get rid of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths that are among you, set your hearts on the Lord, and worship only him. Then he will rescue you from the Philistines.” So the Israelites removed the Baals and the Ashtoreths and only worshiped the Lord.

Samuel said, “Gather all Israel at Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord on your behalf.” When they gathered at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out in the Lord’s presence. They fasted that day, and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the Lord.”

1 Samuel 7:3–6

1. The Reverberations of Heartfelt Repentance

Longing for the Lord

This is God’s work.

But they would not listen to their father,
since the Lord intended to kill them.

1 Samuel 2:25

It was too late for Hophni & Phineas, but not for Israel.

whole heart

Not just a matter of actions. God’s always after our hearts.

decisive action

not only action, but also not only heart. Change of heart produces change of action.

Samuel didn’t assume their weeping and wailing meant true repentance. They had to prove it with their actions—get rid of their false gods.

passionate worship

heart ︎→ action → worship

humble confession

You have to own your sin. No blame shifting, no excuses.
”We have sinned against the Lord.”

The Philistines Attack

The Philistines see Israel all gathered together, and either (a) assume they’re going to attack, or (b) see an opportunity to deal a decisive blow all at once. Either way, they go on the offensive, get ready to attack the Israelites.

The Israelites said to Samuel, “Don’t stop crying out to the Lord our God for us, so that he will save us from the Philistines.”

1 Samuel 7:8

personal relationship

First time in Samuel that God’s people have addressed Him with a personal pronoun. “Cry out to the Lord our God.”

through a mediator

They begged Samuel to continue praying for them. They still needed someone to go to before the Father on their behalf, a mediator.

If you’ve ever wondered why each week we have a time of repentance and an assurance of pardon, this it it.

The Philistines are coming, Israelites are afraid, Ask Samuel to keep praying.

Then Samuel took a young lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. He cried out to the Lord on behalf of Israel, and the Lord answered him. Samuel was offering the burnt offering as the Philistines approached to fight against Israel. The Lord thundered loudly against the Philistines that day and threw them into such confusion that they were defeated by Israel.

1 Samuel 7:9–10

Imagine being in that valley, everything echoes, amplified. You’re hearing the literal reverberations of repentance.

Just like Hannah prayed…

Those who oppose the Lord will be shattered;
he will thunder in the heavens against them.

1 Samuel 2:10

God is keeping His promises—imagine that!

Second Ebeneezer

Afterward, Samuel took a stone and set it upright between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, explaining, “The Lord has helped us to this point.”

1 Samuel 7:12

Ebeneezer was the place Israel was camped out back in chapter 4 when they played with the ark and got slaughtered by the Philistines. This is not the same place—they’re in Mizpah now. But Samuel gives it the same name—“stone of help”

And what a contrast between the two places/events. In one, they treated God like a genie in a bottle… just rub the ark, and he’ll have to grant our wishes.

The second time, they cry out to Him for protection. They humble themselves before Him, trust in his power, and cast themselves on his mercy. And He answered.

Help-Stone had now lived up to its name.

We need these moments in our lives, reminders of all he’s done. Maybe this can be an moment like that for you this AM/PM, where you say…

Here I raise my (very own) Ebeneezer;
Hither by Thy help I’ve come.

I know it’s not Thanksgiving yet, but don’t wait 6-7 weeks to remember all that He’s done. He’s been faithful this far.

Samuel wanted the people to remember, not just for a few days, but for years, for decades, for generations, how God had come to the rescue of his people when they humbled themselves before him.

David Mathis, Desiring God

Samuel Goes Home

The chapter ends with a description of how Israel’s final and best judge spent his years. Each year he would go on a circuit around the major cities in the southern part of Israel, and then he’d return home, not to Shiloh, but to Ramah.

That’s just a beautiful little tidbit, a little insight about how Samuel saw his place in the world. Even though he’d been raised under the tutilige of Eli at the tabernacle in Shiloh, he knew Ramah was his real home.

We don’t know, but I sure hope Hannah was still alive then, don’t you? That they got to spend some sweet years together, that she got to see what God was doing through the ministry of the son she had prayed for and dedicated to the Lord.

Rise & Fall

“Two steps forward, one step back.” Life always seems to go that way, doesn’t it? It’s rare that there’s many steps forward in a row.

It’s true in our spiritual lives as well. Where there’s a mountain, there’s a valley.

The book of Samuel doesn’t tell us that explicitly, but it sure shows it implicitly. It oscillates back and forth, good and bad, rise and fall. You can almost predict how the next scene is going to go based on how the current scene is going.

We’ve seen your glory, Lord, but looked away.

So all the elders of Israel gathered together and went to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Therefore, appoint a king to judge us the same as all the other nations have.”

1 Samuel 8:4–5

Put yourself in Samuel’s shoes: You’ve been working like a dog for years trying to lead God’s people well. And you have done it well—you’re objectively better than any of the judges that came before you. Israel’s enjoyed relative peace with their neighbors for the first time ever.

What’s more, the word of God is no longer rare among the people, because of your devotion. God has been speaking to you directly and you’ve been sharing His word faithfully, for decades now.

After all that, this is how they respond to you? “You’re old, your sons are bums, we need a king to judge us.” How dare they.

It’s easy with a quick reading to picture Samuel as this tottering old man or something, but that’s not the case. Samuel doesn’t die until Chapter 22, when he’s pushing 100. Based on the storyline been then and now, most scholars estimate he was most likely in his 50’s!

If you’re offended right now, think how Samuel felt!

The elders’ excuses are just dumb:

  1. You’re too old. Not really, prime leadership time of life.
  2. Your sons are wicked. So create a dynasty?

Just to be clear, it wasn’t inherently wrong for Israel to have a king. In fact, God had promised Abraham that “kings would come from him” (Gen 17:6), and gave instructions for how that should go in Deuteronomy:

“When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose.

Deuteronomy 17:14–15, ESV

So the problem’s not with a king as a concept, it’s part of God’s plan. The problem is with the timing, with the excuses, and with the motivation of their hearts.

  1. The Reverberations of Heartfelt Repentance

2. The Ramifications of Heartless Rejection

Before God gives His answer, He gives Samuel some gracious pastoral counseling.

But the Lord told him, “Listen to the people and everything they say to you. They have not rejected you; they have rejected me as their king. They are doing the same thing to you that they have done to me, since the day I brought them out of Egypt until this day, abandoning me and worshiping other gods.

1 Samuel 8:7–8

God just used that line “It’s not you, it’s Me.”

We have a tendancy to want to read God’s word without inflection, but don’t make that mistake. The only reason we feel the pain of rejection is that we are made in His image—God has emotions. Lots of them. Including the pain of being rejected in a relationship.

It’s not you, Samuel, don’t take it personally. They’re rejecting me. And it isn’t the first time, this is just how they treat me. From the very beginning, I have never been enough for them.” Isn’t that sad?

Their demand for a king was, in the deepest sense, an attempt to get out from under the rule of God.

“Listen to the people and everything they say to you. They have not rejected you; they have rejected me as their king. They are doing the same thing to you that they have done to me, since the day I brought them out of Egypt until this day, abandoning me and worshiping other gods. Listen to them, but solemnly warn them and tell them about the customary rights of the king who will reign over them.”

1 Samuel 8:7–9

Remember in our series through the Minor Prophets last fall, they talked over and over and over about the justice of God, and God proclaimed his judgment because of their injustice towards others? We talked about the word mishpat—God’s justice or judgment.

And that’s the word that’s translated here in the CSB as “customary rights”, if you’re reading another translation it probably says ways, policies.

Remember, one of the elder’s excuses was that they were concerned about Samuel’s sons, that they were perverting justice. So God tells Samuel, “Warn them about what kind of justice they can expect from this king.”

Samuel was talking not so much about the judgments the king would pronounce as the judgment the King would be.

Peter Leithart

Justice of the King

He said, “These are the rights of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and put them to his use in his chariots, on his horses, or running in front of his chariots. He can appoint them for his use as commanders of thousands or commanders of fifties, to plow his ground and reap his harvest, or to make his weapons of war and the equipment for his chariots. He can take your daughters to become perfumers, cooks, and bakers. He can take your best fields, vineyards, and olive orchards and give them to his servants. He can take a tenth of your grain and your vineyards and give them to his officials and servants. He can take your male servants, your female servants, your best cattle, and your donkeys and use them for his work. He can take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves can become his servants. When that day comes, you will cry out because of the king you’ve chosen for yourselves, but the Lord won’t answer you on that day.”

1 Samuel 8:11–18

What’s the key word in Samuel’s warning? HINT: it’s repeated 6 times.

Every king but Jesus will take, take, take.

money John D. Rockefeller, who was asked after he made his billions, was asked how much money is enough. His answer? “One more dime.”

politics This is primarily theological, not political, but that doesn’t mean politics don’t come into play here.

When people transfer their expectations for righteousness and salvation from God to government (of any flavor), they are sure to be disappointed.

Billions of dollars will be spent to tell you “if you trust me, I will give you hope, security, and happiness.” Don’t believe it.

Israel’s Response

The people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We must have a king over us. Then we’ll be like all the other nations: our king will judge us, go out before us, and fight our battles.”

1 Samuel 8:19–20

If their reasoning was bad before, now it’s even worse. What just happened in chapter 7? God fought Israel’s battle, thundered against the Philistines.

What did God just do in chapters 4-6? Go out before the Israel, and defeat the Philistines all by himself.

The heart of sin is dethroning God.

Application

  1. Be wary of pragmatic solutions, because you
    just might be rejecting God’s leadership.

  2. Be wary of the temptation to imitate those around you.

  3. Be wary of anyone/anything trying to set up
    an alternative kingdom in your heart.

At any given moment, you can either choose heartfelt repentance or heartless rejection. One or the other; never both.

Conclusion

I quoted from Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing a few minutes ago. It was written in 1757 by Robert Robinson—Bobby! And at 22 years old, this college age guy wrote these rich words we’re going to sing in a few minutes.

Come Thou fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace

Whatever is good and perfect is a gift
coming down to us from God our Father.

James 1:17, NLT

When I walked into the sanctuary this morning, the heat was set to 64º, I turned it up, and the temperature change made my guitar go out of tune. I had to adjust the tension on the strings so that they resonate at the proper frequency.

You and I were born into a world that is out of tune with itself because of the Fall. And even more than that, we were born out of tune with our Creator.

We need him to tune our hearts to sing of his grace, because as sinners, it’s not the first song in our heart most of the time.

Streams of mercy, never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise

His mercy never ends, it’s new every morning.