Where are the Samuels who have heard the voice of God, who
have been awakened by the Holy Spirit and have received a revelation of soon-coming
judgments upon a backslidden Church? Why aren't all preachers of the Gospel grieving over
the sinful condition of God's house? Why aren't all pastors and evangelists crying out as
watchmen on the wall? Scripture says that Samuel was given a vision in which God
pronounced the end of a backslidden religious structure, and "Samuel told [Eli]
everything, and hid nothing from him" (1 Samuel 3:18). I ask you, pastor: Are you
telling it all? Are you holding back hiding the truth, afraid of offending your people?
Yet in spite of those who are afraid to come forth with the full message for the Church, I
believe that the Lord God always brings in a "Samuel company" who will hear His
voice in a time of spiritual decline. This company is made up of men and women who care
nothing for tradition, promotion or denominational boundaries. They represent pastors and
lay people who have an ear to hear God's voice and know what grieves Him.
Without question the message of the Samuel company is not a pleasant one. "Samuel was
afraid to tell Eli the vision" (verse 15). This vision was overwhelming; but Samuel
could not help but share it with the one on whom judgment would fall. God would no longer
put up with a form of godliness that did not have the power of holiness.
Yes, God was about to remove His presence from Shiloh, but He would do a glorious new
thing in Israel. He said, "I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who shall do
according to what is in My heart and in My mind. I will build him a sure house, and he
shall walk before My anointed forever" (1 Samuel 2:35). This verse describes the
Samuel company of believers and ministers who share the very heart of God. They know the
Lord's mind and His will, and they walk in fear and holiness before Him. The Samuel
company is a praying people; it was while Samuel was in prayer that God revealed to him
the fearful things to come. And because they are in touch with God they know and share His
grief.
God is speaking in these last days to those who are shut in with Him. He reveals His heart
to those who hunger and thirst for more of Him, who pant after Him as the deer pants after
the water, who have died to every selfish ambition and who have no goal in life but to
bring pleasure, glory and joy to His heart. I say this unflinchingly: God will not choose
a denomination to deliver His Word to this last generation. He will not call on a
committee to hear His voice and ignite the last-day gathering of the remnant. Instead,
when the angels of the apocalypse go forth to smite the earth, denominations and religious
leaders will be found hard at work protecting their interests and strengthening their
authority, drawing up bylaws and making resolutions. But the Samuel company will be found
in the secret closet of prayer, seeking their Master's will and sharing His grief over
sin.
Samuel, the man God raised up to serve as judge and prophet for the Israelites, bore God's
grief over His people to the very end of his ministry. The Bible says Israel eventually
lusted after a king so they could be "judge[d] . . . like all the nations" (1
Samuel 8:5). At this Samuel fell on his knees, greatly displeased. God spoke these sad
words to him: "Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they
have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them"
(1 Samuel 8:7).
Samuel went to the people and warned them of the hardships they would have under a king,
how he would conscript their children and take their lands and produce, but the people
insisted it was what they wanted. "Make them a king," the Lord said, and their
history changed again even as they broke God's heart.
Everywhere you turn now a growing number of God's people are rejecting the Lordship of
Christ. They are clamoring to be "like the nations." That is the essence of
compromise or mixture: to be just like the world. They are saying, "We want God and
the world, too!" They want the world's recognition and prestige, the world's
pleasures and the "good life" of luxury. But thank God for the protesting Samuel
company! They have heard from God, and they know where all this compromise is going to
end. They see the frightful results of apostasy ahead, and like Samuel they sob a
piercing, heart-rending cry of grief.
Those who weep over sin in the Church and discern her errors are called doomsayers. Many
who know them say, "I don't like to be around them. They sound negative and morose
and they look so sad." But such onlookers simply do not know these weeping people.
They do not understand that those who truly grieve with God are given a leaping heart of
joy in Jehovah. "Although the fig tree shall not bear fruit; neither should there be
any provision on the vines; the produce of the olive should fall, and the fields not yield
subsistence; the flocks should be cut off from the fold, neither should there be any herd
in the stalls. Yet will I leap for joy in Jehovah. I will exult in the God of my
salvation. Jehovah my Lord is my strength." Habakkuk 3:17-19, Spurrell Original
Hebrew.
Such joy comes from knowing that God will always have a pure ministry through a holy and
separated people, even in the most evil of days. These people know that God will honor
them with His constant presence. They draw strength from believing in the majesty and
power of God, whose judgments are always righteous. With Habakkuk they can say,
"Though all else fails, my heart will rejoice in God alone." Even when failure
seems to surround them and they see little evidence of fruit, their grief gives way to
ecstatic joy because they are near to the heart of the Lord. And, like Paul, this grieving
remnant can say, "As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich;
as having nothing, and yet possessing all things" (2 Corinthians 6:10).
It seems that Samuel had little joy during the disastrous reign of Saul, the chosen king,
for he continued to mourn for him (I Samuel 15:35). Finally the Lord said, "How long
will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your
horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided
Myself a king among his sons" (1 Samuel 16:1). This was, of course, the young David,
a man who shepherded Israel "according to the integrity of his heart" (Psalm
78:72) and who prefigured the Messiah.
It is, in fact, David's words that encourage us to believe that sharing God's grief will
result in rejoicing. Speaking from his own wealth of experiences as one who hungered after
the Lord, David said, "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the
morning" (Psalm 30:5).
So may it be for the hungering people today! May we find that our hunger leads to the
prayer closet to share His grief, and to the Body of Christ to share His joy.
Reference Used: Hungry For More Of Jesus by David Wilkerson
(Used by Permission)
From: A Revival Source Center