Loud Thunder

 DEVOTION

1^ST SAMUEL

LOUD THUNDER

1 Samuel 7:7-13

7 When the Philistines heard that Israel had assembled at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines came up to attack them. And 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 offered it up 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 Car. 12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far has the LORD helped us." 13 So the Philistines were subdued and did not invade Israelite territory again.

NIV

The enemy of Israel at that time was the Philistines, and here we see that the LORD thundered against them, causing them to panic, and the Israelites defeated them. But we know they will be back during the reign of Saul, with their champion Goliath. However, our story here is about Samuel crying out to the LORD, making an offering of that suckling lamb, just a little baby lamb. Why does that sound offensive to us, that a little baby lamb that is still at its mother’s breast be killed and burnt as a sacrifice? Samuel did offer prayers or cry out on behalf of Israel that day, and the LORD answered him. Here is where we enter the story. First, as we think of that poot little lamb being taken from its parent to be an offering to the LORD, we think about Jesus coming down from the Father, to be an offering for us. Jesus is referred to as the Lamb of God, and he offered himself to the Father on our behalf. We might think it was cruel to take that little lamb, but how cruel our Lord was treated to be a sacrifice on our behalf, so our sins would be forgiven. The Lamb of God was not offered by men, or a man, as in the case with Samuel making that offering, but Jesus offered himself. He gave his life that we might have life. We wonder if our gratitude can ever match his grace. We wonder just how much we express that gratitude, first, in our daily lives, and secondly, in our worship. Do we just worship mechanically, so to speak, simply mouthing the words to worship songs, without sensing the deep meaning of the words and who we are singing to? Are our hearts full of thanksgiving and gratitude for the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf? Sometimes we might get distracted watching how others worship, so that we lose our sense of worship. We think we should almost be lost in worship, losing ourselves, offering ourselves as a living sacrifice that is holy and pleasing to the Lord. When Samuel cried out to the LORD, he answered and overwhelmed the enemy of Israel. Maybe if our worship and our daily lives were a cry out to the Lord, we might hear him answer, or sense his almighty power at work within us. We each might have something in our lives that needs to be subdued, and we cannot do that without the power of God; the loud thundering of God routing our enemy, subduing it. Let us always live with gratitude and praise in our hearts, for the Lord has given us the victory. When we still our hearts, or be still, then we will know he is God. To still our hearts is to put everything aside, and focus on the Lord when we worship, both in our daily walk, and when we gather together, then we might just hear that loud thunder of God.