Daily Thought

Soon after Samuel died, Saul had to face his next predicament - a massive Philistine invasion. He lined his troops against them at Gilboa, but ‘when [he] saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled’, v. 5 (cp. Isaac, Gen. 27. 37). He desperately prayed about the situation, but the Lord did not answer, even when he used every device he could think of - Urim, dreams, and prophets, v. 6.

Saul had been afraid before, when the Philistine champion Goliath had taunted Israel, 1 Sam. 17. 11, but then the Lord sent a saviour in David. Now He had forsaken Saul and no saviour would appear. Such was his desperation that trying to get in touch with Samuel, he eventually stooped to the depth of consulting a spiritualist medium (‘a woman that hath a familiar spirit’, 1 Sam. 28. 7), even though he had previously banned such people from the land, v. 3. Much to the consternation of the medium, Samuel did appear, and immediately announced Saul’s doom. Tomorrow, said Samuel, both Saul and his three sons would join him in death.

When Saul had originally prayed, his situation was precisely that described later in the Book of Proverbs, ‘ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early [i.e., ‘earnestly’, YLT], but they shall not find me’, 1. 24-28.

The Lord will never forsake us today, Heb. 13. 5, but to have our prayers answered, there are conditions that He expects us to fulfil.

Hence in prayer we should be characterized by: persistence, 1 Thess. 5. 17; faith, Jas. 5. 15; knowledge, 1 Cor. 14. 15; acceptance, Matt. 6. 10; holy living, Jas. 5. 16; and reverence, Matt. 6. 9.

Then we must never forget what the Lord said, ‘If my people shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto prayer’, 2 Chr. 7. 14, 15; cp. Isa. 65. 12.