He Is Faithful

Scripture (s): I Samuel 12:21 & 22

"You must not turn aside, for then you would go after futile things which can not profit or deliver, because they are futile. For the LORD will not abandon His people on account of His great name, because the LORD has been pleased to make you a people for Himself.

Background:
We left the general assembly of the states together, in the close of the foregoing chapter; in this chapter we have Samuel’s speech to them, when he resigned the government into the hands of Saul, in which, I. He clears himself from all suspicion or imputation of mismanagement, while the administration was in his hands (v. 1-5). II. He reminds them of the great things God had done for them and for their fathers (v. 6–13). III. He sets before them good and evil, the blessing and the curse (v. 14, 15). IV. He awakens them to regard what he said to them, by calling to God for thunder (v. 16–19). V. He encourages them with hopes that all should be well (v. 20–25). This is his farewell sermon to that august assembly and Saul’s coronation sermon (Henry, 1996).

Commentary:
II. He aims to confirm the people in their religion, and engage them for ever to cleave unto the Lord. The design of his discourse is much the same with Joshua’s, ch. 23 and 24.

1. He would not that the terrors of the Lord should frighten them from him, for they were intended to frighten them to him (v. 20): "Fear not; though you have done all this wickedness, and though God is angry with you for it, yet do not therefore abandon his service, nor turn from following him.’’ Fear not, that is, "despair not, fear not with amazement, the weather will clear up after the storm. Fear not; for, though God will frown upon his people, yet he will not forsake them (v. 22) for his great name’s sake; do not you forsake him then.’’ Every transgression in the covenant, though it displease the Lord, yet does not throw us out of covenant, and therefore God’s just rebukes must not drive us from our hope in his mercy. The fixedness of God’s choice is owing to the freeness of it; we may therefore hope he will not forsake his people, because it has pleased him to make them his people. Had he chosen them for their good merits, we might fear he would cast them off for their bad merits; but, choosing them for his name’s sake, for his name’s sake he will not leave them (Henry, 1996).

2. He cautions them against idolatry: "Turn not aside from God and the worship of him’’ (v. 20, and again v. 21); "for if you turn aside from God, whatever you turn aside to, you will find it is a vain thing, that can never answer your expectations, but will certainly deceive you if you trust to it; it is a broken reed, a broken cistern.’’ Idols could not profit those that sought to them in their wants, nor deliver those that sought to them in their straits, for they were vain, and not what they pretended to be. An idol is nothing in the world, 1 Co. 8:4 (Henry, 1996).

Reflections:
The people of Israel anxiously desired a king; and God gave them what they wanted, with a warning. He gave them a king to rule over them as they desired; but they were required to obey the Lord, as well as the newly appointed king. If they fell into disobedience, the hand of God would come upon them. Even though the people sinned against the Lord by rejecting Him as King; God did not, and would not, forsake them because he was pleased to make them a people for Himself. God was, and will always be faithful for his namesake. However, we should never take the faithfulness of God for granted. We should continually thank God for his faithfulness to us, and tenaciously strive to be faithful to him.

Strong's Concordance Definition:
I Samuel 12: 21 - Futile: 8414
1) formlessness, confusion, unreality, emptiness
a) formlessness (of primeval earth)
1) nothingness, empty space
b) that which is empty or unreal (of idols) (fig)
c) wasteland, wilderness (of solitary places)
d) place of chaos
e) vanity

I Samuel 12:22 - Abandon: 5203
1) to leave, permit, forsake, cast off or away, reject, suffer, join, spread out or abroad, be loosed, cease, abandon, quit, hang loose, cast down, make a raid, lie fallow, let fall, forgo, draw

a) (Qal)
1) to leave, let alone, lie fallow, entrust to
2) to forsake, abandon
3) to permit
b) (Niphal)
1) to be forsaken
2) to be loosened, be loose
3) to be let go, spread abroad
c) (Pual) to be abandoned, be deserted

References:
Blue Letter Bible. "Book of 1 Samuel 12 - (NASB - New American Standard Bible)." Blue Letter Bible. 1996-2010. 9 Apr 2010.  http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=1Sa&c=12&t=NASB
 

Henry, Matthew. "Commentary on 1 Samuel 12." . Blue Letter Bible. 1 Mar 1996. 2010. 9 Apr 2010.

http:// www.blueletterbible.org/commentaries/comm_view.cfm?
AuthorID=4&contentID=883&commInfo=5&topic=1%20Samuel&
ar=1Sa_12_21

Higgins, S. (2010). He Is Faithful. Devotions for Thought. Higgins Publishing. Http://www.devotionsforthought.blogspot.com, http://www.higginspublishing.com