A Praying Prophet

For one thing, prophets were seers. They were originally called such because they had insight and discernment unlike others. God had revealed to these men—and sometimes women—in sovereignly selected moments, the condition of nations, churches and individuals, as well as the foretelling of events.

No man chose to be a prophet. They were called and commissioned by God alone. Kings and priests under the Old Covenant, and pastors and evangelists under the New Covenant, were called by God and set apart for ministry by constituted authority. Not so with the prophets. They were accountable to God alone. They could neither be hired nor fired. No man or organization employed them. They were on no institution’s payroll; they stood for no election; they were God’s special agents.

The life of a prophet could be lonely because the masses and religious hierarchy often misunderstood his ministry. Because his messages were convicting, they were mostly dreaded. After all, who enjoys hearing, “Thou art the man!” or being called a “generation of vipers.” These men weren’t given “Preacher of the Year” awards or standing ovations at the annual church conferences. They were a different breed.

Because of the nature of the prophet’s role, it was vitally important that he walk close with God—that he be a person of prayer. For without a praying heart the prophet would have become censorious and judgmental, even melancholy. With a praying heart he could deliver his messages faithfully and lovingly, and walk before God in joy and gratitude. Samuel was this kind of prophet—he was a praying prophet.

A Product of Prayer

Samuel was a product of prayer: “For this boy I prayed, and the LORD has given me my petition which I asked of him.”(1) Just as there would have been no Augustine without a praying Monica, so there surely would have been no Samuel without a praying Hannah.

As it is in the natural world, so it is in the spiritual—praying parents beget praying children. At least this was true in the case of Samuel. He learned to pray early. No doubt he heard his parents, Elkanah and Hanna, pray often. And just as surely, he heard his mentor and priest, Eli, offer repeated heart-felt cries and petitions to Yahweh.

The sanctuary atmosphere in which he grew up was punctuated regularly with petitioners offering their confessions, thanksgivings and intercessions before God. And hearing the deep-felt prayers of godly, earnest worshipers, forever shaped the appetite of this prophet-in-waiting— for prayer was the very language of sanctuary worship.

A Reputation for Prayer

Having learned to discern the voice of God at a young age,(2) Samuel went on to become one of Israel’s foremost prophets. And one thing, which characterized his prophetic ministry all his years, was his ministry of intercession. He was not known as much for his prophetic messages as he was for his prayers. He had learned to instinctively look to God for wisdom and direction. Out of habitual communion with the Holy One of Israel he was able to be God’s man and voice to a stiff-necked people—all because prayer had become his “vital breath and native air.”

Let us now note some biblical recorded occasions in which Samuel prayed.

Samuel Prayed for Deliverance

Having grown weary of their Philistine oppressors, Israel complained to the Lord and the Lord spoke to Samuel and Samuel spoke to the people: “Gather all Israel to Mizpah and I will pray to the Lord for you.”(3) Then upon gathering, the people said to Samuel, “Do not cease to cry to the LORD God for us…”(4) After offering a sacrifice to the LORD, “Samuel cried to the LORD for Israel and the LORD answered him.”(5)

Blessed indeed are those people who have a leader of the quality of a Samuel to intercede for them—men and women who wrestle before the throne of grace for God’s mercy to be poured out on their church, or ministry, or some particular situation. How often churches and ministries languish in despair because no one is standing in the gap to cry out to God for them. “I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one.”(6) This is not to suggest that every situation can be changed by the prayers of godly praying people—both biblical history and experience testifies otherwise—but surely God would like to bare His arm among us more often.

Samuel knew God and the people knew that he knew God. And he got his prayers answered. So effective were his prayers that the Bible reports, “And the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.(7)

Samuel Prayed for God’s Choice

Although it was neither God’s nor Samuel’s preference for Israel to have a king other than God Himself, the Lord accommodated Israel and granted their desire to have a human leader like the surrounding nations. It was out of the prophet’s quiet time with His Lord that the Lord revealed to Samuel that a man by the name of Saul was to be Israel’s first king. “Now a day before Saul’s coming, the LORD revealed this to Samuel saying, ‘About this time tomorrow I will send a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over My people Israel;…’ “(8)

We are living in such a different and desperate church age now. When I was called to my first church fresh out of Bible College, the tried and tested pastoral candidating policy for a local church board was to make inquiry of a few godly leaders who knew the candidate, and whose wisdom they valued, then to take their recommendation before the Lord and seriously pray over it.

But what is the situation today? The corporate world has walked through the church’s front door into the boardroom. As many boards review one polished, inflated pastoral candidate’s résumé after another, what are they looking for? A suave corporate ecclesiastical executive to run a smooth religious organization; a charismatic personality who is expert in carrying water on both shoulders; a sermonizer who promises that his sermonettes won’t exceed fifteen minutes!

I would like to hear of a church board who has the courage to break the mold. Let them get down of their knees and wait on God until they hear from God as to who His choice for them will be.

Things have gotten out of hand. Yes, I think we ought to be skeptical about the person who is forever saying, “The Lord showed me” and “The Lord told me.” On the other hand, I think a board would do well in its search for their next pastor, to bring before it two or three of its parishioners, who are reputed to be godly people, and ask for their prayerful counsel. Let’s throw the worldly, corporate paradigm out and bring God’s ways back!

Even though Samuel’s prayers didn’t keep King Saul from failure, yet they were effectual in providing Israel with God’s chosen man. Can’t God do the same for us in our own day? For your church? For your ministry? In our time? I believe He can and will if we seek His ways.

Samuel Prayed for a Fallen Leader

Upon hearing from God that Saul’s pride had caused him to disobey God and precipitate a disastrous defeat for Israel, Samuel “cried out to the LORD all night.”(9)

This prophet often “cried out” to God. I heard a pastor say in a sermon recently that the Lord had spoken to him about his failure to “cry out” to Him for his people. He said he hadn’t quit praying for his people, but that his intercessions had become too routine, too monotonous. The Lord told him to start crying out to Him.

If language means anything, this language of “crying out” to God means that the intercessor’s heart and voice become so engaged about a matter that inaudible praying, or quiet praying, won’t do.

You can rest assured that Samuel didn’t cry out to God in a “church office” at nine o’clock in the morning with his administrative assistant sitting in the next room. People and pastors who cry out to God get off alone by themselves—just themselves and God. They don’t want anyone within earshot. These matters are too sacred to be overheard by anyone. In this case, a leader had fallen and a man who cared about his people and the leader spent the night on his face before God. He cried—and he cried out. He wept; he agonized; he grieved; he was in deep pain and anguish of soul. The man he had anointed to be Israel’s king had fallen—and God had just told the prophet that he now regretted ever placing him over His people. The prophet hurt for the king; he hurt for the people; he hurt for God.

The Church Needs More Samuels

Answers to our prayers do not come with a guarantee. Just because God gave us a certain leader in answer to prayer does not mean that person will always be God’s person for that place for all time. People fail, leaders fall—but God’s work goes on. Thus, God turns to Samuel and says, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have selected a king for Myself among his sons.”(10) Once again, out of a time of prayerful communion with God, Samuel is told who Israel’s next leader is to be.

Israel was blessed to have been given such a man as Samuel to pray for them. May the same God be pleased in our day to raise up many after his kind in the Church. We are desperately in need of praying people—praying prophets—men and women who will pray for God to intervene, to give deliverance; people who will pray for God’s choice for leadership. O Lord, give us in my own day such people!

Men and women who may be quite ordinary and yet exceptional like Thomas Haire, who became known as the praying plumber from Lisburn, Ireland. Haire once said to A.W. Tozer, “Praying is working along with God in the fulfillment of the divine plan. Praying is fighting close up front where the sharp deciding action is taking place. Prayer takes into account what the devil is trying to accomplish and where he is working, and attacks him at that strategic point.”(11)

Samuel was that kind of intercessor. May God be pleased to give us more praying Samuels.

– Soli Deo Gloria –