To Encourage You

1 Samuel 12:23 “Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way. “

In 1 Samuel 12 we have Samuel’s farewell address to the people of Israel, a people whom he had led for many years.  Yet they were rebels.  In their action of asking for a king, they had rejected Samuel as their leader, and they had disobeyed God.  In spite of it all, in spite of their sin (about which Samuel had confronted them), he reminded them of a wonderful truth, i.e., “the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself” (1 Samuel 12:22). Incredibly, God’s response to their wickedness was to remain faithful to them.  He had set His affection on them. He had loved them. And though He would, from time to time, discipline them severely for their waywardness, that discipline always was borne out from a heart of love. 

But it’s Samuel’s next words, the words recorded in the verse above, that should perhaps impact you and me more than any other.  Here, after Samuel tells Israel how wonderful and gracious God is, he talks about himself, beginning with the words, “Moreover, as for me . . . “ In other words, in light of the way God is treating you, this is my response.  And what was his response?  It was a realization that it would be a great sin against a very good and gracious God to treat His people in a manner worse than God would.  Another way to think about this can be put this way: “If God is gracious towards and loves people who sin against Him, who are we to think that we should be less than gracious and less than loving towards those who sin against us?  Who do we think we are to have the right to treat others worse than God does? Are we more righteous or holy than He?” 

Samuel’s response is to realize that it would be a sin against the very nature and character of God if he would fail to pray for Israel, and if he would fail in the responsibility God had given him to teach them in “the good and right way.”  What a challenge this should be to our natural way of thinking.  What a reminder of the very thing Jesus said when He told us, “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil” (Luke 6:32-35). 

May God help us who say we are following Him to act like His followers, even when we are dealing with those “sinners” who sin against us. May He help us to follow His example rather than theirs, for that’s what the life of a Christian is supposed to look like, isn’t it?