Well Meaning but Mistaken

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 8
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Yet Samuel's institution of his sons into the judgeship was well meant. His one desire was to make adequate provision for God's people when he himself could serve them no longer. But did not the Lord know the age of His servant? And did He not care for His people? Let us remember that the people belonged to God, not to Samuel. Do we sometimes feel anxious about the future of those among whom we labor? Are we disposed to make provision for them according to our own thoughts? Let us learn the lesson of Samuel's blunder. Creature hands need not be stretched out to support the ark; God is quite able to take care of it Himself (2 Sam. 6:66And when they came to Nachon's threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. (2 Samuel 6:6)). Remarkably, the man who spoke of getting old lived nearly fifty years longer. He lived to see his sons run their course and pass into obscurity; he saw Saul rise and fall; he anointed David to be king in his room; and he afterward sheltered him when driven from home by his would-be destroyer. It is important to emphasize these facts. The sin of the people in demanding a king is obvious, but it must not be forgotten that the error of the man of God contributed to it. Had Samuel gone quietly on with his service, ministering to the people with such strength as God might be pleased to give, the episode of Saul, with all its disastrous results, might never have been. He who kept Moses strong and vigorous until he was 120 years old (Deut. 34:77And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. (Deuteronomy 34:7)) could have sustained Samuel until God's time arrived for the establishment of the new order. We have already seen that it was God's intention to give Israel a king, and apparently Samuel might have continued to serve the people until David—the man of the Lord's choice—was ready to occupy the throne. Brethren, let us get on with our ministry as helped by God, and leave the tomorrow of His work to Him. The Head of the body, the church, is still enthroned on high, and from His own hand and heart gifts will continue to be given to His saints on earth until the need is no more.
It is sorrowful to learn that Samuel's sons “walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment” (1 Sam. 8:33And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment. (1 Samuel 8:3)). One wonders that the sons of one so pre-eminently godly should be so evil. With the lessons of Eli and his sons before him, Samuel surely sought that his own household should be a true testimony for God. Is it possible that his going on circuit from year to year explains the breakdown? May God have mercy upon the families of those who, in our own day, are called to travel hither and thither proclaiming the Word of God.