When Prayer Becomes a Divine Responsibility
The people all said to Samuel, “Pray to the LORD your God for your servants so that we will not die, for we have added to all our other sins, the evil of asking for a king.
Do not be afraid, Samuel replied. “You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the LORD; but serve the LORD with all your heart...For the sake of His great name, the LORD will not reject His people, because the LORD was pleased to make you His own.
As for me, be far it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right.
Do not be afraid, Samuel replied. “You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the LORD; but serve the LORD with all your heart...For the sake of His great name, the LORD will not reject His people, because the LORD was pleased to make you His own.
As for me, be far it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right.
The relationship between God and Israel was a rather checkered one with numerous acts of ingratitude and rebellion from Israel against God. The last straw that broke the camel’s back was when Israel asked to be given a “real” king just like all the other nations had. Both Samuel and God felt rejected but God assured Samuel that the rejection was more against Him than Samuel. As magnanimous as He always is, God selected Saul to be king. Nonetheless, Samuel reminded the Israelites that they had gravely sinned by rejecting God.
The People asked Samuel to keep them in prayer so that they would be spared from any divine wrath. This is where we see one of the greatest assurances of divine love in the Bible: “for the sake of His great name, the LORD will not reject His people, because the LORD was pleased to make you His own.” Forsaking His children is never an option with God. God has made it clear that even if our mother and father forsake us, He will never leave us.
What I find most fascinating about the passage, is the very powerful lesson on prayer. The people asked Samuel to pray so that they would not die and Samuel responded that failing to pray for them would be tantamount to sinning against God. He assured them that he would teach them what is good and right. As “undeserving” as the people were and as provocative as they had been to Samuel by rejecting His leadership, Samuel vowed to keep them in prayer. To Samuel, praying for them was a divine obligation for which God held him responsible. It had nothing to do with his personal feelings about the evil conduct of the people. Not praying for them would be a sin against God!
So, what if we approached prayer with that same sense of divine responsibility regardless of our feelings? This could apply to people we disagree with such as: political personalities with whom we are at variance; religious opponents; “Undeserving” wicked people; outright “enemies”; our detractors; people who have hurt our families; difficult and mean bosses, etc.
When prayer becomes a divine responsibility of love, it takes us to a new level of relationship with the God who has promised never to leave nor forsake us no matter what sins we commit!
The People asked Samuel to keep them in prayer so that they would be spared from any divine wrath. This is where we see one of the greatest assurances of divine love in the Bible: “for the sake of His great name, the LORD will not reject His people, because the LORD was pleased to make you His own.” Forsaking His children is never an option with God. God has made it clear that even if our mother and father forsake us, He will never leave us.
What I find most fascinating about the passage, is the very powerful lesson on prayer. The people asked Samuel to pray so that they would not die and Samuel responded that failing to pray for them would be tantamount to sinning against God. He assured them that he would teach them what is good and right. As “undeserving” as the people were and as provocative as they had been to Samuel by rejecting His leadership, Samuel vowed to keep them in prayer. To Samuel, praying for them was a divine obligation for which God held him responsible. It had nothing to do with his personal feelings about the evil conduct of the people. Not praying for them would be a sin against God!
So, what if we approached prayer with that same sense of divine responsibility regardless of our feelings? This could apply to people we disagree with such as: political personalities with whom we are at variance; religious opponents; “Undeserving” wicked people; outright “enemies”; our detractors; people who have hurt our families; difficult and mean bosses, etc.
When prayer becomes a divine responsibility of love, it takes us to a new level of relationship with the God who has promised never to leave nor forsake us no matter what sins we commit!
PRAYER:
Father, I pray that you will give me the love and discipline I need to pray from a divine perspective of love no matter what the circumstances of the prayer might be. Amen.
Father, I pray that you will give me the love and discipline I need to pray from a divine perspective of love no matter what the circumstances of the prayer might be. Amen.