In reading 1 and 2 Samuel we see many who cooperated with God for the fulfilment of His purpose; we need to be those who remain on the line of life and cooperate with God for the fulfilment of His purpose on earth, that is to gain a kingdom for His rule.
Satan knows what is God’s purpose and always tries to get in first, to do something to hinder what God is doing.
In His wisdom, God allows Satan to do this and that, but eventually, He comes and gains what is in His heart.
God will obtain the desire of His heart, no matter how much Satan works behind the scenes and also visibly to nullify God’s purpose and usurp His people.
In the case of Samuel, God had a full way to be expressed through him, for his heart was a duplication of God’s heart, and he expressed God as he functioned as a judge, a prophet, and a priest.
God’s goal, however, was not that only Samuel would be such a one but that He would set up a kingdom with a king (1 Sam. 8:7; 13:14); therefore, Samuel cooperated with God for the fulfilment of His purpose to anoint David.
Saul came first, but he was not God’s choice – he was the people’s choice, and he tried to establish his own monarchy.
The people of Israel wanted a king, just as the nations around them had a king; in their desire to have a king, they rejected God as their real king.
When Samuel heard the people’s desire, he was displeased, for he realized that they didn’t merely reject him or his sons, but they rejected God.
So Samuel prayed to God, and God told him to go anoint Saul as king. Saul was not what God desired, but it was what people wanted; he wanted to establish his monarchy for his family, but God was displeased with him.
Because Saul rebelled against God and disobeyed Him, God rejected him, and he had a terrible ending.
But the Lord still had a way to move through Samuel to anoint David, and then David cooperated with God to establish the kingdom.
After years of opposition and persecution, suffering and dealing, David was prepared to be king.
He was a man according to God’s heart and cooperated with God for the fulfilment of His purpose to the extent that, in Matthew the Lord Jesus is called, The Son of David, and in Rev. 22 the Lord said, I am the Root and the Offspring of David.
David typifies Christ, the king, and Christ was born as a descendent of David.
May we see the positive patterns and be warned by the negative examples in the books of 1 and 2 Samuel and may we be those who cooperate with God for the fulfilment of His purpose on earth today.
How Elkanah, Hannah, Samuel, and David remained on the Line of Life to Fulfill God’s Purpose
As we read 1 Sam. 1-2 we see that, even though there was chaos and degradation in Israel, Elkanah and Hannah remained on the line of life ordained by God to fulfill God’s purpose.
They were not special Israelites; rather, they cooperated with God for the fulfilment of His purpose.
They remained on the line of life not merely for God’s eternal salvation but for His eternal purpose. God’s salvation mainly benefits us, but God’s purpose is related to the fulfilment of God’s desire.
Elkanah had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah (1 Sam. 1:1-2); he loved Hannah more, but she had no children, while Peninnah had sons and daughters.
This was the Lord’s sovereign hand, for He worked behind the scenes to gain Hannah for the fulfilment of His purpose.
Every year, according to the law of Moses, Elkanah went with his family to the house of God, the tabernacle, which was in Shiloh at that time, and they worshipped and made offerings to Jehovah (v. 3).
Hannah became increasingly desperate to have a child, for the Lord shut up her womb and the other wife, Peninnah, provoked her.
So Hannah was forced to pray a desperate prayer; in her prayer, she consecrated herself and the child she would have to God, if He would give her a male child.
She prayed for a son, whom she promised to give to the Lord, not keep for herself, for His need; she consecrated Samuel even from his birth.
Her prayer afforded God the cooperation He needed in order to gain someone like Samuel, who was consecrated to God from his birth.
So God opened her womb and Samuel was born (v. 20); his name means “asked for of God” and “heard of God”.
Samuel was a Nazarite from his birth, and he served as a priest in the house of God (v. 24; 2:11, 18).
While Samuel was staying with Eli in the temple, God appeared to him in a night vision (3:4-14) and He kept speaking to him as he grew up.
Eventually, Samuel became a renowned prophet, a priest, and the judge of Israel (1 Sam. 3:20; 7:6).
His parents cooperated with God, now he cooperated with God in his life and work.
Samuel being a prophet, a priest, and a judge was not God’s goal – He wanted to set up a kingdom with a king.
So God sent Samuel twice to anoint someone; first, Saul was anointed to be ruler over Israel (1 Sam. 9:16; 10:1), but he didn’t cooperate with God with all his heart, and second, he anointed David to be king (16:1, 13), and he did cooperate with God.
David was brought in through Samuel, who was brought in through Hannah and Elkanah; all these remained on the line of life for the fulfilment of God’s purpose.
They didn’t care that much for themselves but for God to gain what He is after. God moved behind the scene to cause Hannah to be desperate, and she afforded God the prayer He needed to move in her and through her to produce Samuel.
Samuel also cooperated with God, as he remained on the line of life, to not only be a priest, a judge, and a prophet, but also to set up the kingdom with the king.
Samuel didn’t seek his own interest, nor did he desire that he would have his sons as his continuation to be judges and have a position; he cared only for God and His interest, and he continually prayed for God’s people.
What a pattern Elkanah, Hannah, Samuel, and David were to us on the line of life!
Lord Jesus, we want to remain on the line of life for the fulfillment of God’s purpose on earth today. Amen, Lord, we want not only to be saved in life and be transformed for the building up of the church but also that God would fulfill His purpose. May the kingdom of God come on earth, and may Christ be enthroned as King in us, in the church, and on the whole earth! Amen, Lord, grant us to remain on the line of life, caring not for our interest or prosperity but for God’s interest and the fulfillment of His purpose. May we not look at the degradation and corruption around us but set our eyes on Jesus and care for His interest down here on earth!
Remain on the Line of life and Cooperate with God for the Fulfilment of His Purpose
The history we see in 1 and 2 Samuel is not only something that happened a long time ago and has nothing to do with us; rather, we need to learn the spiritual principles and follow the proper patterns in the Lord.
We need to be those who remain on the line of life and cooperate with God for the fulfilment of His purpose.
Just as in Hannah and Samuel’s days, we live in an age of degradation in the church and corruption in the world; in spite of what we see happening around us, we need to cooperate with God for the fulfilment of His purpose.
Like Hannah and Elkanah and Samuel, who were not special or extraordinary people but those who were inwardly motivated by God to cooperate with Him, we also need to be such ones today.
God doesn’t need those who are super-spiritual, who are giants in faith, or who are mighty spiritual warriors; He needs brothers and sisters like us who are an anti-testimony, a counter-testimony to the corruption in the world and the degradation in the church.
We have chaos around us in society and degradation in Christianity, but we see something of God’s purpose, we choose to remain on the line of life, and we want to cooperate with God for the fulfilment of His purpose.
On one hand, we see our need to be saved in life, for there are so many things other than God that still usurp us and occupy us; therefore, we daily contact the Lord, confess under His shining light, and deal with anything that is negative.
On the other hand, we see God’s purpose related to the desire of His heart, and we care not only for our own need but care for God’s need.
Even more, God is operating behind the scenes to cause us to be desperate. He moves in a hidden way, secretly, to make us desperate concerning our own need, which is a reflection of His need.
Our need is not only to be saved but to overcome so that we may bring the Lord back; this is His need, and He moves secretly, behind the scenes, to cause us to realize this.
Under God’s sovereign dealing, Hannah was suppressed in her soul with a burden in her spirit to pour out before Jehovah; this was God’s move.
She cooperated with God, responding to God’s move in her; she could not have peace until she prayed for a son, and she poured out her soul before God (1 Sam. 1:15).
As a result of her desperate prayer, her need was met and God’s need was also met; God could gain a Samuel and she gained a son.
Today in the current world situation, as we live at the end of the present age, God is moving both in the current world events and behind the scenes in us to cause us to be desperate for what is on His heart.
As we see the COVID-19 pandemic on the earth and people becoming more and more rebellious against God and anything that is good, as we see the war raging in Ukraine and the whole world arming up and taking sides, we not only pray for those in distress but even more, for God to gain what He is after.
Our hope is not set in peace coming in and in a more stable situation happening around us; we are at the end of this age, and we need to live a proper Christian life on the line of life for the fulfilment of God’s purpose.
And our prayer is not only for our needs, the needs of the saints, and the situation to be stabilized around us; our prayer – motivated by the God who operates and moves in secret, behind the scenes – is for Him to gain His overcomers who would end this age and bring in the kingdom age.
We want to be those who remain on the line of life and cooperate with God at the end of this age to live a life and pray for the fulfilment of His purpose on earth today.
Lord Jesus, we respond to Your inner move and motivating by simply saying Amen, we want to cooperate with You for the fulfilment of Your purpose. We pray not merely for peace or for our needs: we pray for us and for many of Your believers to be produced as Your overcomers at the end of this age. Amen, Lord, gain what You are after on earth; gain Your bride, the body of overcomers who hasten Your return and bring in the age of the kingdom! Oh Lord, we want to remain on the line of life and cooperate with God by living a life and praying for the fulfilment of God’s purpose on earth. Move in us, Lord, and move through us; move in Your saints to produce them as the overcomers You need to end this age and bring in the age of the kingdom!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ron Kangas, and portions from, Life-study of 1 & 2 Samuel (pp. 10-11), by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization Study of 1 and 2 Samuel (2021 winter training), week 1, entitled, The Central Thought of and the Divine Trinity as Revealed in 1 and 2 Samuel.
- Hymns on this topic:
– In this godless age / Lord, You need some Samuels / Burdened with a vision clear of Your economy / Where’s Your ark today? / And the ones who’d care for You, / E’en to put themselves aside to gain Your heart’s desire? (Song on, In this godless age)
– There are two lines to live by in our living today— / One the life line to bring us into Christ all the way. / But the other is knowledge which will make us die; / We must be very careful on which line we abide. / Oh, we’ll stay on God’s life line, never turning aside. / We don’t care for vain knowledge, which will cause us to die. / Lord, we’ll touch You by calling on Your name each day; / Living in Your appearing, in Your presence we’ll stay. (Hymns #1194)
– Overcomers Christ will take, / Those who all for Him forsake, / Those who of first love partake— / Win in time! / All the deadness overcome, / With the living Christ be one, / Toward the goal now swiftly run— / Win in time! (Hymns #1307)
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