The Answer to our Predicament

”…and the word of the LORD was rare in those days;  there was no widespread revelation.”  (1 Sam. 3:1 – NKJV translation)

Why or how was the word of God “rare” in those days,  the above statement being really a paradox.  They certainly had (possessed) the word of God, and yet they had nothing!  And so “those days” in the apostate Israel are very much akin to our days of religious show and platform performances, but without reality.

A visitor coming to the church of Israel may politely ask:  “How are things here? How are you doing?”  Depending on whom he puts the question to, he may get an answer something like this:  “Not too bad, my friend.  We have the tabernacle, the ark of covenant, the written word, the ordinances, the worship, the  sacrifices, the divinely designed furniture of the sanctuary….etc., so, praise the Lord, I think we´re getting along fine!”

Here´s  another possible answer coming from a broken heart:  “Well, we have a lot of good things, good programs, good singing, good rituals, good music, sweet-scented incense, good scripture reading, an orthodox creed and statement of faith, good priests, songs of praise - and yet we have nothing!  We have the written word, but the word of the Lord doesn´t have us and is thus a rare thing”, i.e.:  There´s no glory to the word.  The glory has departed (1 Sam. 4:22).

Oh, this is certainly “written for our leaning”, is it not?  The western world, by and large, has everything and yet nothing.  We have our programs, our buildings, our worship sessions, sophisticated sermons,   our announcements and schemes - and yet nothing.  The world is in a bad shape, but we Christian Westerners are in a worse shape. Speaking of the apostasy of Europe, our American friends would say, “It´s coming this way too”, and it is.  And so what?



There was an answer in the days of Samuel.  He was the answer or rather God through him was the answer at a time when “all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord”  (1 Sam. 7:2).  We may be “lamenting” too.  But what was the answer?  Samuel:  “If you return to the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods….and prepare your hearts for the Lord, and serve Him only…”  (v.3).

“If you will return to the Lord…”  speaking of true repentance that leads to a wholehearted breaking away from all double-mindedness as exposed in 2 Kings 17:33:  “They feared the Lord, yet served their own gods – according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away.”

Yes, there is an answer to the double-minded believers in my country, in Europe and in our beloved America.  The answer is not a political one, nor a “charismatic” one, nor another musical item, nor funny jokes, but a new step of obedience and returning to that Lord who already bought us so dearly. 

The big election day this coming Tuesday starts already now and may  in many devoted homes be a day of victory to the honor of God depending on our willingness to be “on the Lord´s side” (Ex. 32:26) in all practical areas of our life, not only emotionally on “worshipping” Sundays.

For unconfessed sin and “the solemn assembly” (Isa. 1:13) with all its hypocritical solemnities may go well together for a certain length of time, the judgment of God appearing later though  (1 Tim. 5:24).  

“Likewise also, deeds that are good are quite evident, and those which are otherwise cannot be concealed” (1 Tim. 5:25).  So the Lord bless and encourage every fellow pilgrim, who not only has the word of the Lord but who, “humble and contrite of spirit, trembles at My word” (Isa. 66:2) and yet rejoices in it (Jer. 15:16).

-jn-