The power of prayer – a God worth trusting (1 Sam 7:7-17)

It never fails to amaze and encourage me when I see God’s answer to prayer in my own life or in those of others. We have an ally greater than any power on earth who takes the time to listen to the billions of requests rising to Him daily and answers them all in His wisdom. We cannot fathom how this is possible, but it works. We have prayers, of course, which may take longer to answer: the conversion of a loved one, reconciliation in the family, getting a job, finding a spouse, making friends in a new place. I believe, however, that God responds to some of our prayers with more immediacy to reassure us that He truly hears. Many a time, I felt stuck in my thinking and after prayer new ideas and solutions came to me. On other occasions I felt overwhelmed about deadlines piling up, but when I sought God, I felt somehow carried, so that in the end all tasks were finished on time. We have a God who is near to those who call Him.

In our reading, as God’s people gather to have their relationship restored with the Lord, the Philistines hear the news and muster their forces for battle (1 Sam 7:7). This is the test of Israel’s commitment. Will they revert back to those things that have given security before or will they seek the Lord? The people’s faith becomes evident as they implore Samuel, their judge, to keep interceding for them with the Lord (1 Sam 7:8). Given the imminent danger, we may expect the gathering to be interrupted as Israel prepares for the fight. Meeting as they are for a religious occasion, not for war, makes them vulnerable. Yet, there is no sense of rush as Samuel offers sacrifices and cries to the Lord on Israel’s behalf; rather, it is at the very time Samuel is engaged with the Lord that He thunders from heaven and confuses the enemy (1 Sam 7:9-10).

There are several principles in our story that apply in the spiritual realm as well. First, when we turn to God, Satan our enemy is quick to attack. This may be a diversion, a problem that takes over our entire thinking so that we feel we have no space to think of God right now. At the same time, such a situation is also an opportunity to reveal how serious we are in our commitment to the Lord. Do we fall back on our former coping mechanisms like eating as comfort, activity overdrive or something else or do we truly trust the Lord? Further, does panic make us feel we have no time to do the ‘religious bit’ and seek God? Yet, it is as we cry to God and trust Him that He responds. The real battle is not happening where a mundane issue screams for attention but in the spiritual realm when we spend time in prayer.

As we conclude the series of episodes relating to the ark, it is worth looking back at the beginning of the story when Israel first lost against the Philistines in chapter 4. Then they tried to use the ark in the vain hope that God would automatically come to their aid, but there was no genuine turning to the Lord, no searching questions about what went wrong, no prayer or repentance, only a sense of entitlement: God is our God and He will help us. No wonder they were defeated. As James says, the prayer of the righteous (i.e. the person who is in a right relationship with God) accomplishes much (James 5:16). Effective prayer, however, is not simply about being born-again Christians, nor about sinless perfection. Rather, as in Israel’s case, it is about living a life oriented towards God in genuine faith and commitment to Him. God in His grace may answer the cries even of unbelievers, but only those who live for Him know Him consistently as ‘our help’ (1 Sam 7:12).[1]

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[1] Ebenezer means ‘stone of help’. The stone did not help them, but it was a memorial to the help they had received. It is also helpful for us to mark answered prayers to remind and encourage us.

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