1 Samuel_7

Scripture

 

1 Samuel‬ ‭7:5‬ ‭

 

“Then Samuel told them, “Gather all of Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you.”

 

Observation-What does it say?

 

Samuel urges the people of Israel to return to the Lord by getting rid of all their images of their foreign gods, and turn their hearts back to God, by obeying Him, and Him alone. By doing this God will rescue them from the Philistines. So the people of Israel listened to Samuel. They worshipped, fasted, and confessed their sins to God. Samuel told all of them to gather at Mizpah, and he would pray for all of them. But when the Philistines heard all of Israel were gathered at Mizpah, they launched an attack against them. The Israelites were frightened. They begged with Samuel to continue to pray for them. So Samuel did. Samuel offered a burnt offering to God and pleaded with Him to save Israel. The Lord heard Samuel’s prayers and helped the Israelites defeat the Philistines.

 

Understanding-What does it mean?

 

God saves through prayer and repentance!

 

The power of prayer couldn’t be more evident in this passage. But I believe there was another key thing here that pushed the Israelites to victory over the Philistines here. It was their willingness to confess their sins and repent from them which saves them from the Philistine army. The Israelites realized that their sinfulness separated them from God’s favor. Samuel urged them to repent from their wicked ways and to obey God’s ways. The Israelites took Samuel’s advice. In the midst of all this they were surrounded by the Philistine army, on the verge of war and death. But through their prayers and repentance from their sins, God saved them from death. And that my friends is the message of the gospel!

 

It is our sinfulness that separates us from a Holy God. We are deserving of death. We are in need of a savior. God gives us this savior in His only son, Jesus. Jesus died on the cross for our sins. He rose again and conquered death. It’s on us to believe and trust in Jesus, and live by His ways. We need to pray to God to accept Jesus into our hearts and lives and repent from our sinful ways. It is then we too, like the Israelites in this passage, will be saved from death.

 

Life Application

 

The grace of God is for everyone.

 

Father God, thank You for Your grace and mercy. Thank You for sending Jesus to save me. I know there are others out there who are in need of saving. Give me eyes to see them and ears to hear their cries for help. Let me be like Samuel in this passage, and guide them to repentance and pray for their salvation. Give me the courage and the words to share the gospel with them. May You open their hearts to the gospel of Christ. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

 

-Moses Gaddi