SYNOPSIS: When God puts you in authority over another human being, as a parent or a pastor, as a teacher or trainer, as Bible study leader or a boss, as a manager or a mentor, you have assumed a responsibility that is never-ending: to pray for them. Intercession and influence will be your role with them until the day God calls you home. So stay in the game, for the outcome of your charges’ lives depends, to a degree, on how faithful you are.
Going Deep // Focus: 1 Samuel 12:23-24
“As for me, I will certainly not sin against the Lord by ending my prayers for you. And I will continue to teach you what is good and right. But be sure to fear the Lord and faithfully serve him. Think of all the wonderful things he has done for you. But if you continue to sin, you and your king will be swept away.”
Of course, God can lift our burden to pray for a certain person whom he has placed on our heart or in our care. There may be a time when God calls us to step away from our efforts to instruct them. At times, God leads us to turn them over to what they have stubbornly pursued.
For a season. Rarely, would that be forever. This would be the exception, not the rule.
To totally, irrevocably disengage relationally and spiritually from someone with whom we have been given influence would be an exceedingly rare thing. It is possible, but it would be highly unlikely. And to pull away from our spiritual responsibility because we are frustrated to the proverbial point of pulling our hair out would in fact be sinful on our part. Not to pray for them would actually mean that we have now entered into their sin.
Case in point: Samuel’s retirement. This great prophet had led Israel for years, calling the nation back to God and getting them on the right path spiritually. And while he warned them against asking for a king, when the nation insisted on a monarch, he led them through the process that led them to Saul, Israel’s first king. In this chapter, now that Saul has been firmly established as the man to lead the nation, Samuel decides to retire—although that is not going to happen, as you will see reading through the chapters that follow.
His retirement speech is a doozy. He repeatedly warns the nation of the likelihood of spiritual drift—and of what the consequences will be if they do. He also, once again, reminds them of how wrong they were to insist on a human king—which, I’m sure at this point, didn’t make King Saul feel too good. And to emphasize the seriousness of his diatribe, Samuel did something that I wish I had the power to do as a spiritual leader (although it is probably best that I don’t): He calls down a sign from heaven:
“Now stand here and see the great thing the Lord is about to do. You know that it does not rain at this time of the year during the wheat harvest. I will ask the Lord to send thunder and rain today. Then you will realize how wicked you have been in asking the Lord for a king!” So Samuel called to the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day. And all the people were terrified of the Lord and of Samuel. “Pray to the Lord your God for us, or we will die!” they all said to Samuel. “For now we have added to our sins by asking for a king.” (1 Samuel 12:16-19)
At this point, Samuel recognizes the sincerity of their repentance, but the fact remains that they have made a sinful decision in selecting a king that will stay with them for hundreds of years. And even though the die has been cast and Samuel could have turned his back on them for their foolish decision, he utters these words that have such meaningful application to our lives to this very day: “Even though I am retiring as your spiritual leader, I will not sin by failing to pray for you. Furthermore, as I can, I will continue to influence you to do what is right.”
This is the eternal call of the spiritual influencer. When God places you over another human being, as a parent or a pastor, as a teacher or trainer, as Bible study leader or a boss, as a manager or a mentor, you have assumed a responsibility that is never-ending: to pray for them.
The content of your prayer will depend on how God leads you to pray, but intercession will be your call until the day God calls you home. Likewise, speaking into their lives as you have opportunity will be your duty. That is the privilege and responsibility you accept.
Samuel wore the role well. You must too, for the outcome of your charges’ lives depends, to a degree, on you staying in the game.
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