Sunday, August 24, 2025
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: 1 Samuel 11-13
Key Verse
1 Samuel 12:17 — “Is it not wheat harvest to day? I will call unto the LORD, and he shall send thunder and rain; that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking you a king.”
Devotional Thought
The book of 1 Samuel turns a corner in these chapters, and the turn is sharp. In chapter 11, Saul is still the reluctant farmer, coming in from the herd when he hears the weeping of Gibeah. Nahash the Ammonite has offered Jabeshgilead a covenant on monstrous terms: surrender, and every man loses his right eye, a mutilation meant to shame all Israel. Saul hears it, the Spirit of God comes upon him, and he hews a yoke of oxen into pieces and sends the bloody fragments through the tribes as a summons. The fear of the LORD falls on the people, three hundred thirty thousand gather at Bezek, and by the morning watch Israel scatters the Ammonites so thoroughly that two of them are not left together. It is a moment of pure, unearned deliverance, and Saul himself insists that no man be put to death that day, for “to day the LORD hath wrought salvation in Israel.”
Then Samuel stands before the nation at Gilgal and does something quietly magnificent. He is old and grayheaded; he has walked before them from his childhood. He invites them to testify against him: whose ox has he taken? whom has he defrauded? They can find nothing. He is not defending himself so much as establishing a witness: the God who sent Moses and Aaron, who delivered them from Egypt, who raised up Jerubbaal and Jephthah and Samuel, has been faithful even when they were not. And they had asked for a king when the LORD their God was their king. Samuel does not crush them; he calls thunder and rain on the wheat harvest to show them the weight of what they have done, then tells them plainly: “Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the LORD.” He promises to pray for them and to teach them the good and right way. Grace and truth together.
But chapter 13 shows how quickly the heart can drift. Saul waits seven days at Gilgal, as Samuel appointed, and the Philistines gather like sand on the seashore while his own men hide in caves and pits and slip across the Jordan. When Samuel does not come, Saul offers the burnt offering himself. It seems pragmatic; it seems devout. But it is disobedience dressed as devotion, and Samuel’s verdict is severe: “Thou hast done foolishly.” The kingdom will not continue. The LORD has sought a man after his own heart.
We read this in late August, when the wheat harvest has come and gone and the long summer has perhaps worn our patience thin. It is a season when we are tempted to take matters into our own hands, to force the offering because the waiting has grown unbearable. Saul’s story is a mirror. So is Samuel’s. One man presumed; one man prayed. And the God who sent thunder and rain at the wheat harvest is still the God who answers, still the God who does not forsake his people for his great name’s sake.
Reflection
- When have you, like Saul at Gilgal, justified a disobedient shortcut because the pressure felt unbearable and God seemed late?
- Samuel promised never to cease praying for the people. Who has God placed in your life for you to carry before Him in prayer this week?
Prayer
O Lord, our God, we confess that we are often more like Saul than we wish to admit. When the Philistines press in and the days stretch long, we take matters into our own hands and call it wisdom. Forgive us. Thank You that You do not deal with us according to our folly, but for Your great name’s sake You refuse to forsake Your people. Give us the patience of Samuel, who prayed and taught and waited. Teach us to fear You and serve You in truth with all our heart, remembering how great things You have done for us, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.