A Listening Ear

1 Samuel 14:37 ESV

And Saul inquired of God, “Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you give them into the hand of Israel?” But he did not answer him that day.

It had been a long day of great victory. Israel had dealt a great blow to the Philistines; Jonathan had bravely and individually begun the battle and the nation rallied to him. Now Saul, like any great general, is wanting to press his advantage. The man who would raise Jonathan so well, that he would forsake his own throne in light of David, is the man who knows that without God’s help failure is all that awaits, and so he asks God which way to go. And nothing. God refuses to say yes or no, because sin has come upon the people. Jonathan had eaten some honey in contradiction to Saul’s vow about a fast. The story resolves with the people pardoning Jonathan and refusing to allow Saul to kill him, and God’s people unable to continue the campaign into another.

How seriously do you take the idea of your own personal sin being the reason for God not doing/answering…? The dominant question is rarely one of importance to such a busy people, we look for deals and seek to negotiate not wanting to acknowledge that our sin is a very real possibility for our troubles and turmoil. Even in this case the sin rested in another. It wasn’t Saul’s sin that hindered God from answering him. It was hidden sin in his family that caused God to reject the petition for counsel. Once the sin was known and sorrowfully dealt with, God would answer later, but not until.

God continues to work through his people and establishes them. They in turn reject his good laws and pursue worldly pleasure and standing. This leads to their downfall and rejection. Isaiah speaks of this rejection in chapter 57 verse 17 of his book:

“Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry, I struck him; I hid my face and was angry, but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart,”

He explains how he tried to correct the nation. He punished them and refused to listen to them. They did not respond to punishment and they did not examine themselves when he refused to answer their prayers. Israel showed itself to be totally depraved. Unable to respond to correction in any meaningful way they were powerless and hopeless. Such is the nature of our depravity, without the intervention of God to move in us we reject salvation and run from redemption.

Praise be to God, he does not leave us there, Isaiah continues in verse 18 and says, “I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners,”. God steps in and heals his people, not because they did anything, but because he loves them. They persisted in disobedience and turned a blind eye to his silence, and seeing all this he chose to change their heart.

I often grow fearful for my children. Not seeing changes in their personality and knowing what awaits adults with such habits, I fear for them. Yet, reading this gives me hope. My children, like their father, do not have hope in the future because of their good behavior, winning personality, or discerning heart. Our hope is in God who will pity us and change our heart, not because of worth but because of his great love. Let us rejoice in the God who hears the prayer of his son.

“I am praying for them…I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,” John 17:9,20

CRUCE, DUM SPIRO, FIDO