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them in any way. It was a very wonderful record of a very distinguished servant of the
Lord. He urged the people to remember how God miraculously delivered their
forefathers from Egypt, the land of their terrible bondage, and had given them their land,
a land that flowed with milk and honey. Yet, just as their fathers had done, this nation of
Israel too had turned away from, and forgotten the One Who so graciously blessed them.
They had demanded a king when the Lord God was their King. Their grievous sin in
turning their backs on Him was to become like the idolatrous nations around them. Yet
despite their wickedness God had not consumed them in His wrath, but mercifully
forgave them on one condition. Both their king and the people must fear, serve, obey and
worship only the Lord their God.
Today there are no strings attached to our salvation. For God has paid the price of sin
and death in the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has redeemed us from the
dominion of sin, and if we accept His gift of forgiveness and by faith put our trust in
Him, and believe that He rose from the dead in resurrection power, we too shall have
eternal life in unity with Him.
In I Sam. 12: 14, 15, Israel are given a choice:
"If ye will fear the Lord, and serve Him, and obey His voice, and not rebel against the
commandment of the Lord, then shall both ye and also the king that reigneth over you
continue following the Lord your God: But if ye will not obey the voice of the Lord, but
rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall the hand of the Lord be against
you, as it was against your fathers."
So the king and the people have to make a decision. It is quite clear-cut. Either they
can honour and obey the Lord their God, or they can rebel against Him and His
commands. In the early part of this chapter Samuel had reminded the people what had
happened to their forefathers when they had forsaken the Lord and worshipped the idols
of the heathen nations around them. Then in verses 16-18 God even condescends to give
them visible evidence of His power:
"Now therefore stand and see this great thing, which the Lord will do before your
eyes. Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call unto the Lord, and He shall send thunder
and rain; and ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done
in the sight of the Lord, in asking you a king. So Samuel called unto the Lord; and the
Lord sent thunder and rain that day: and all the people greatly feared the Lord and
Samuel" (I Sam. 12: 16-18).
In answer to Samuel's prayer He sent the thunder and rain at the time of the wheat
harvest. In Prov. 26: 1 we read: "As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so
honour is not seemly for a fool". It was unheard of for rain to fall at the time of wheat
harvest and this miracle shocked these people into the realization of the sin they had
committed against the Lord in demanding a king apart from Him. They now fear the
judgment of God upon them and the punishment that surely will fall upon them. So they
beseech Samuel to pray to "the Lord your God" that He will not destroy them in His
wrath. They fear that He is no longer their God, and as they had forsaken Him, so He had
forsaken them.