Gathering Clouds

by G. PRASHER, SR. | Category: The Last Of The Judges | Dec 1961

One morning we watched the sun, glorious and majestic, appear above the horizon. We thought of the psalmist's description:

"The sun,

Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,

And rejoiceth as a strong man to run his course" (Psalm 49. 4, 5).

There was promise of a glorious day, but alas! clouds gathered, the wind arose, and the rain came down. We were disappointed.

Gathering clouds marked the later years of Samuel. When he was born there was gloom and darkness in the spiritual sky, and the murky condition continued till his manhood; but the skies cleared, and brighter days dawned as Samuel was used of God to guide His people in the paths of righteousness.

Alas! that the barometer should again fall so low, for Israel got their eyes off the LORD, and were taken up with their surroundings They were affected by what they saw, not by what they had heard.

We might have thought of them as not likely to forget that time when, trembling, they besought the LORD, and He was entreated of them, and thundered against their enemies, thus bringing them deliverance and salvation; but all that would appear to have been forgotten in their base desire to be like their neighbours.

True there were circumstances that afforded some cause for complaint, but they were not such as to exculpate the nation for their heartless defection from the LORD who had done so much for them - forgiving, restoring, and showing salvation. What was their complaint? "All the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah: and they said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations" (1 Samuel 8.4, 5).

Sometimes a son is better than his father, as for instance King Hezekiah did right in the eyes of the LORD; but Ahaz, his father, provoked the LORD to anger (2 Chronicles 28, 29). But Samuel's sons walked not in the footsteps of their father, "but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgement."

Their asking for a king, however, "displeased (was evil in the eyes of) Samuel ... and Samuel prayed unto the LORD." God also was displeased, and said, "Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected Me, that I should not be King over them.... Howbeit thou shalt protest solemnly unto them, and shalt shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them." Sons would be taken for the army and for the king's husbandry; daughters would be conscripted as confectioners, cooks and bakers; fields and vineyards commandeered, and tithes levied of seed and flocks. Notwithstanding the warning the people persisted in their resolve to have a king.

The desire to be like those around us is an ever-present danger to the Lord's people, and we do well to remember the injunction:

"Be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Romans 12.2). To have God as their King called for an exercise of faith. "We walk by faith, not by sight," wrote the apostle Paul, but the evidence here shows Israel walking by sight, not by faith.

"Yea, He loveth the peoples" (Deuteronomy 33.8), and He who loved them tenderly felt keenly their cold departure from Him. "They have rejected Me, that I should not be King over them" caused Him grief. Earlier He had granted "them their request; but sent leanness into their soul," and we fear the granting of this request was not without an accompanying leanness and loss.

G. PRASHER, SR. | Dec 1961
The Last Of The Judges