ONLY FEAR THE LORD, AND SERVE HIM IN TRUTH WITH ALL YOUR HEART

From the beginning, it had been God’s intention that there should be kings in Israel and that, in due course, His Messiah should be King over Israel. Doubtless, in His own time, God would have raised up David to establish the royal line which would reach its climax and conclusion in ‘the Son of David’. But the people of Israel had jumped the gun, and had prema­turely, and for entirely the wrong reasons, demanded a king, 1 Sam. 8. 1-22. In response to Samuel’s later prayer, God had expressed His displeasure at the people’s demand by sending thunder and rain during the dry season of wheat harvest. At the sound and sight of these unnatural happenings, the peo­ple ‘greatly feared’, and besought Samuel to pray for them because, as they acknowledged, ‘we have added unto all our sins this evil to ask us a king’, v. 19.

Samuel reassured the people on two counts: (i) they did not need to fear, for, although they had indeed done ‘wickedness’, on this occasion the Lord would not forsake, ‘abandon’, them ‘for his great name’s sake’, because it had pleased Him to make them His people. But Samuel made it clear that this assurance was conditional on them ceasing to do ‘wickedly’, v. 21. (ii) Sam­uel assured them that, in response to their request that he ‘pray’ for them on account of their recent ‘sin’, v. 19, he would not ‘sin’ himself in ceasing to ‘pray’ for them, v. 23. Samuel twice stated God’s requirement that, from now on, they were to ‘serve the Lord’ with all their heart, vv. 20, 24. But, though they need not ‘fear’ that they would ‘die’ on account of their recent wickedness, v. 20, they were to cultivate a healthy ‘fear’ of the Lord, vv. 14,24. And this, not only because otherwise His hand would be against them, v. 15, but in gratitude for ‘how great things’ He had done for them, v. 24. Let us also review our spiritual history and consider ‘how great things’ the Lord has done for us. Let us be grateful for the One so much greater than Samuel who now appears in the pres­ence of God for us. And let us determine to serve God ‘in truth’, with godly fear and with all our hearts from this point on.