The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1959-04-03

admission to the
.goodly company = -
Of the saints is pr. Foreman
not cheap, but it is in every ones
reach: Faith.
Loyalty
This was true Of the famous Old
Testament hero named Samuel. He
was what In football language is
called a triple-threat man. He was
a priest, prophet. judge, military
advisor; and tradition even says
he was writer. though of course
he did not live long enough to have
written the books that bear his
name in the Old Testament. (They
do not claim to have been written
by him. Before his time there had
been no kings. and indeed not very
much unity among the tribes of
Israel. Under his leadership the
tribes were better united, and it
would not be much exaggeration
to say that Samuel clicked the
tribes into shape" the shape Of
kingdom which he turned over to
the first klng-by-title. Saul. It is
true that King Saul did not pay
attention to Samuers wisdom. but
all the same, after the old prophet
was dead, Saul thought so much
Of his advice that he actually tried
to conjure him out of his grave
just to hear him again
What was the secret of Samuel's
power over Israeli First Of all it
was contagious loyalty 10 the
one true God 1t was a time when
most men worshipped many gods.
Even the 1sraelites did this. Samuel
ran the risk of being looked at as
a crank or fanatic, but such was
his known loyalty to God that
when he challenged Israel to throw
away their idols. they did. There
must have been something in his
life that made even those primitive
men sure that one-plus-God means
greatness.
Prayer
Another marked feature Of
Samuel's life was his prayers. We
have on record the story of his very
first prayer. 1t was not a begging
request, not Gimme" prayer at
all. It was Speak. Lord: for thy
servant heareth." Even as a boy
he would rather hear what God has
to say than to pour out words be
fore God. How seldom it is that
people in praying give God any
chance to speak. The Lord seldom
has much to say to man who in
sists on talking every minute.
Another feature of Samuels
prayer life was that he prayed for
others, even when those others had
turned their backs on him. Samuel
did his best to persuade the Israe-
lites not to have a king He knew
that power corrupts" and he pre-
dicted accurately the injustice and
tyranny which their future kings
would show. But they wanted q
king all the same yet in taking
leave Of them Samuel was not
bitter. Far be it from me that |
should sin against the Lord by
ceasing to pray for you" he said.
Wisdom
Samuel was an example Of what
we nowadays call circuit judge.
He held court in three cities. in
Guiding his home town. (This alone
is remarkable) He was not ION the
one hand) the kind Of religious per
son who retires to a cell and there
spends his life in prayer He was a
man Of affairs. trusted by high and
low. He was not ION the other
hand) the kind Of religious person
who keeps his religion with his
hymnsbook- church, where he
takes it out and gets loud and
happy over it once a week only
once. Samuel on the contrary was
a man whose religious faith was
the foundation Of his wisdom. Re
ligion did not lift him "out of this
world" it gave him insight into
the problems of this world. His
one-plus- God life was not for him
self alone; God in life helped him
to be help to others. Perhaps one
strong reason why there are not
more persons who deserve that
One plus-God" description, is that
too many Of us want to have God
by the hand to serve ourselves
rather than others.
BASED on outlines copyrighted BIZ
the Division of Christian Educstion.
National Council Of the Churches Of
Christ in the g. S. A. Released by
Community Press Service-)