Where are the Samuels who have heard the voice
of God, who have been awakened by the Holy Spirit and have received a revelation
of soon-coming judgments upon a backslidden Church? Why aren't all preachers of
the Gospel grieving over the sinful condition of God's house? Why aren't all
pastors and evangelists crying out as watchmen on the wall? Scripture says that
Samuel was given a vision in which God pronounced the end of a backslidden
religious structure, and "Samuel told [Eli] everything, and hid nothing
from him" (1 Samuel 3:18). I ask you, pastor: Are you telling it all? Are
you holding back hiding the truth, afraid of offending your people?
Yet in spite of those who are afraid to come forth with the full message for the
Church, I believe that the Lord God always brings in a "Samuel
company" who will hear His voice in a time of spiritual decline. This
company is made up of men and women who care nothing for tradition, promotion or
denominational boundaries. They represent pastors and lay people who have an ear
to hear God's voice and know what grieves Him.
Without question the message of the Samuel company is not a pleasant one.
"Samuel was afraid to tell Eli the vision" (verse 15). This vision was
overwhelming; but Samuel could not help but share it with the one on whom
judgment would fall. God would no longer put up with a form of godliness that
did not have the power of holiness.
Yes, God was about to remove His presence from Shiloh, but He would do a
glorious new thing in Israel. He said, "I will raise up for Myself a
faithful priest who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind. I
will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before My anointed forever"
(1 Samuel 2:35). This verse describes the Samuel company of believers and
ministers who share the very heart of God. They know the Lord's mind and His
will, and they walk in fear and holiness before Him. The Samuel company is a
praying people; it was while Samuel was in prayer that God revealed to him the
fearful things to come. And because they are in touch with God they know and
share His grief.
God is speaking in these last days to those who are shut in with Him. He reveals
His heart to those who hunger and thirst for more of Him, who pant after Him as
the deer pants after the water, who have died to every selfish ambition and who
have no goal in life but to bring pleasure, glory and joy to His heart. I say
this unflinchingly: God will not choose a denomination to deliver His Word to
this last generation. He will not call on a committee to hear His voice and
ignite the last-day gathering of the remnant. Instead, when the angels of the
apocalypse go forth to smite the earth, denominations and religious leaders will
be found hard at work protecting their interests and strengthening their
authority, drawing up bylaws and making resolutions. But the Samuel company will
be found in the secret closet of prayer, seeking their Master's will and sharing
His grief over sin.
Samuel, the man God raised up to serve as judge and prophet for the Israelites,
bore God's grief over His people to the very end of his ministry. The Bible says
Israel eventually lusted after a king so they could be "judge[d] . . . like
all the nations" (1 Samuel 8:5). At this Samuel fell on his knees, greatly
displeased. God spoke these sad words to him: "Heed the voice of the people
in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have
rejected Me, that I should not reign over them" (1 Samuel 8:7).
Samuel went to the people and warned them of the hardships they would have under
a king, how he would conscript their children and take their lands and produce,
but the people insisted it was what they wanted. "Make them a king,"
the Lord said, and their history changed again even as they broke God's heart.
Everywhere you turn now a growing number of God's people are rejecting the
Lordship of Christ. They are clamoring to be "like the nations." That
is the essence of compromise or mixture: to be just like the world. They are
saying, "We want God and the world, too!" They want the world's
recognition and prestige, the world's pleasures and the "good life" of
luxury. But thank God for the protesting Samuel company! They have heard from
God, and they know where all this compromise is going to end. They see the
frightful results of apostasy ahead, and like Samuel they sob a piercing,
heart-rending cry of grief.
Those who weep over sin in the Church and discern her errors are called
doomsayers. Many who know them say, "I don't like to be around them. They
sound negative and morose and they look so sad." But such onlookers simply
do not know these weeping people. They do not understand that those who truly
grieve with God are given a leaping heart of joy in Jehovah. "Although the
fig tree shall not bear fruit; neither should there be any provision on the
vines; the produce of the olive should fall, and the fields not yield
subsistence; the flocks should be cut off from the fold, neither should there be
any herd in the stalls. Yet will I leap for joy in Jehovah. I will exult in the
God of my salvation. Jehovah my Lord is my strength." Habakkuk 3:17-19,
Spurrell Original Hebrew.
Such joy comes from knowing that God will always have a pure ministry through a
holy and separated people, even in the most evil of days. These people know that
God will honor them with His constant presence. They draw strength from
believing in the majesty and power of God, whose judgments are always righteous.
With Habakkuk they can say, "Though all else fails, my heart will rejoice
in God alone." Even when failure seems to surround them and they see little
evidence of fruit, their grief gives way to ecstatic joy because they are near
to the heart of the Lord. And, like Paul, this grieving remnant can say,
"As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as
having nothing, and yet possessing all things" (2 Corinthians 6:10).
It seems that Samuel had little joy during the disastrous reign of Saul, the
chosen king, for he continued to mourn for him (I Samuel 15:35). Finally the
Lord said, "How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him
from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to
Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons"
(1 Samuel 16:1). This was, of course, the young David, a man who shepherded
Israel "according to the integrity of his heart" (Psalm 78:72) and who
prefigured the Messiah.
It is, in fact, David's words that encourage us to believe that sharing God's
grief will result in rejoicing. Speaking from his own wealth of experiences as
one who hungered after the Lord, David said, "Weeping may endure for a
night, but joy comes in the morning" (Psalm 30:5).
So may it be for the hungering people today! May we find that our hunger leads
to the prayer closet to share His grief, and to the Body of Christ to share His
joy.