Advent 24 day 5 - Samuel

Today we are looking at Samuel and what happened when he and his people came under attack from the Philistines.  Back in those days the attack came in the form of an army of warriors. The ' philistines' we face today might look different but are every bit as destructive and unrelenting.  Here we go.......

CH 7

When the Philistines heard that Israel had assembled at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines came up to attack them. When the Israelites heard of it, they were afraid because of the Philistines. 8 They said to Samuel, “Do not stop crying out to the Lord our God for us, that he may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines.” 9 Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and sacrificed it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. He cried out to the Lord on Israel’s behalf, and the Lord answered him.

10 While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the Lord thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites. 11 The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Beth Kar.

12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Eben-ezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”

13 So the Philistines were subdued and they stopped invading Israel’s territory. Throughout Samuel’s lifetime, the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines. 14 The towns from Ekron to Gath that the Philistines had captured from Israel were restored to Israel, and Israel delivered the neighboring territory from the hands of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.

Samuel was right in the middle of making his sacrifice as the enemy were attacking.  He hadnt assembled an army.  He hadnt ordered the people to hide in their houses.  The people (who had recently returned to the Lord) recognised that the only solution to their problem was an intervention by God so they asked Samuel to pray.  In the face of the hoards of the Philistine army Samuel prayed.  His prayer came through the sacrifice of a lamb  - the type and foreshadowing of Jesus who is our sacrificial Lamb and our intercessor.  And God did a miracle.  He sent a storm.  He thundered.

John 12;29 - people hear God speak. Some hear His voice as thunder.  When God speaks the heavens shake and people on earth are terrified.  I want to be among those who clearly hear what He is saying. But hearing thunder is better than not hearing anything.

These days we often hear people preaching and teaching about Jesus calming the storm.  We pray that He would be in our boats.  We post nice memes about Jesus calming the wind and the waves of our circumstances.  But we forget that God is not only the God of calm.  He is the storm-bringer.  He thunders from heaven.  He sends the hail and the lightning.  His power creates chaos in the enemy camp and scatters His foes.  Hallelujah!  There is a time for calling on the Lion of Judah to roar over His enemies and ours.  Maybe sometimes the storms in our lives are God storms and He is routing the enemy. Just a thought.

It wasnt just enough for the enemies of Israel to be scattered.  The people could have seen the Philistines retreating in disarray and breathed a sigh of relief and thrown a party.  But no, they chased after the retreating enemy and put every last one to the sword.

When we pray for people and see resolution, victory, answered prayer, healing etc. lets be doubly sure and extra careful that there is no trace of the enemy left in the vicinity to come back with friends and re-take our ground.  Theres no such thing as too much prayer.  

Matthew 12:44-45: "When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation 

Samuel sets up the Eben -ezer stone as a memorial.  The word ezer in the Bible means strong ally, rescuer or lifesaver.  And the first time it is used is to describe Eve.  When God tells Adam He will make a 'helper suitable'  this is the word He uses.  Ezer.  Eve is to be a lifesaver to Adam.  She's not just going to help him with the gardening. She is going to use her wisdom to stop him making bad decisions. Her strength to physically rescue him from trouble, her kindness to nurse him back to health, her determination to help him finish the task.... I could go on.  Husbands, think about what God has given you in your wife and thank Him that she is your 'ezer'. 

The stone here is to remind the people of the miraculous lifesaving help that came from heaven on this particular day. But Samuel recognises that God cant be taken for granted.  He helped us today but that is because we had turned to Him, trusted in the sacrifice, made intercession and believed.  If we stop doing that.......

But the people stayed close to God and as a result not only was their immediate prayer for rescue answered but God went above and beyond to remove the enemy from the whole area and give peace to His people for decades.  Hooray!