Day 4 of 5 — Built To Last. About 4 minutes.
And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the LORD: and Samuel cried unto the LORD for Israel; and the LORD heard him. And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel: but the LORD thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten before Israel.
1 Samuel 7:9-10
Anyone who has stood on the windward side during a real storm knows the sound. The thunder comes over the Koolau range and the windows move. You do not argue with it. You do not help it along. You stand there while something far larger than you does what it is doing. That is the closest most of us get to what happened at Mizpeh.
Notice what Israel contributed to the victory. Nothing. Samuel offered a lamb. Samuel cried unto the LORD. The Philistines drew near while the offering was still burning, and God answered in the middle of it rather than waiting for the danger to pass. Then He thundered. Israel did not swing a sword until the enemy was already broken.
The lamb matters. Samuel did not walk up empty. He came with a burnt offering, wholly given, and he cried for the people who could not save themselves. We have a better sacrifice and a better intercessor. Christ was offered once, and He lives to make intercession for us. Your prayer today is not a shout into the sky. It goes through Him.
So here is Thursday. You have things you cannot fix. A child who will not talk to you. A diagnosis. Orders that move the family again in March. You have prayed about it in a general way for weeks. Stop managing it today and cry out about it specifically, the way Samuel did, and then leave the thundering to God.
Growth principle: Cry out and let God fight; He does not need your help to win.
Take it with you: Pray out loud today about the one thing you have been trying to handle alone.
Pause and pray: Father, I keep working the problem and calling it faith. I am crying out to you now instead. I cannot fight this. Fight for me, and let the outcome be yours. Amen.
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