Samuel and rejection
They have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them (1 Samuel 8:7).
Samuel served God all the days of his life. His base was his home at Ramah. There he built an altar, and it was the place to which he always returned (1 Samuel 7:17). We cannot have an effective ministry to others unless we have a strong spiritual base ourselves, a Christ-centred home. From his home, Samuel served the nation, travelling in a circuit to Bethel, Gilgal and Mizpah.
Bethel was the house of God where Jacob first received the promises of grace and set up the stone, which had been his pillow, to mark the place. There was nothing in Jacob’s life which commended him to God, but God loved him. Bethel reminds us that all our blessings are through the love and grace of God (Genesis 28:13-15). At Gilgal twelve stones were erected as a memorial of the children of Israel being taken over the Jordan into the Promised Land. God had miraculously taken His people out of Egypt, and He brought them miraculously into the land. It was at Gilgal that the Israelites were circumcised and separated to God as a holy people. It was where they held the Passover and ate the old corn of the land, after which the manna ceased (Joshua 4-5). Mizpah means “watchtower”. Jacob set up a pillar to mark the covenant between him and Laban (Genesis 31:45-50) as Jacob returned home as God promised he would. It was to Mizpah that Samuel brought Israel and called upon them to return to God and where God blessed them. There Samuel erected the stone called Ebenezer to remind the people of God’s help (1 Samuel 7:12). Bethel, Gilgal and Mizpah were constant reminders of God’s love and grace, His power and holiness and His help and faithfulness. These themes marked the ministry of Samuel.
Samuel served God from childhood in a nation which was so spiritually weak. God used Samuel to revive and encourage His people. In this service for God, he suffered severe disappointments. Samuel’s own children failed to follow in his footsteps and became dishonest. It is remarkable that God judged Eli for the failure of his children but never judged Samuel, although his children dishonoured God. He will hold us responsible for how we bring up our children, but ultimately, they are accountable for their own behaviour. This experience is connected to Samuel’s bitter disappointment when Israel asked for a king. He learnt, through the sorrow in his own heart over his children, the sadness that was in God’s heart when He told His old servant, “They (the people of God) have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.”
Samuel never stopped loving and serving the people of God. He never turned his back upon them but continued to faithfully minister to all the people of God, despite the rejection he must have felt so profoundly. Samuel is a remarkable example of a life devoted to the service of God and the welfare of His people. He is an outstanding Old Testament illustration of the Lord’s ministry, which began on earth and now continues for us in heaven: “He always lives to make intercession” (Hebrews 7:25).
