Faith life of Samuel, the prophet

“And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,  Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.”

Let us skip over David and see what we can learn from the life of Samuel the prophet. There is an incidence that readily comes to my mind that shows Samuel to be a man of faith. We find it in 1 Samuel 16 when David was anointed king, because it is a very long passage let me tell you the story.

Samuel was told by God to go to the house of a man called Jesse and anoint the next King of Israel, God did not tell him how many sons

Jesse had. So Samuel got to Jesse’s house and declared what his mission was. Jesse proceeded to call his sons and presented them to Samuel;

“Again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, The Lord hath not chosen these. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither.”

Now what made Samuel ask if there were more sons when the man who should know had presented to the prophet seven sons? The word of the Lord that came to him, Samuel believed God’s word above his experience. If God said there was a king in that house and yet he had not seen that king among seven sons then there must be more. 

That my brother or sister is faith in action! The faith lesson here is that God’s word is superior to any experience of man. Let God be true and everyman a liar. If you will take God’s word, contrary circumstances will conform to it eventually.