God's Answer To Bondage

Extracted from Henry Blackaby's Chosen to Be God's Prophet

Then God came. He stepped in and brought onto the scene a man named Samuel. The definitive word in the book of Judges is, "In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes" (17:6)

Do you understand how critically dangerous it is to to go your own way without any reference to what God has been doing? Any generation of God's people who have a pattern in their lives to do what is right in their own eyes have lost the truth that they are a corporate and covenant people of God.

We are a part of the royal priesthood. The priesthood of the believers is never in the singular but always in the plural. No priest functions outside the corporate priesthood of the believers. In our generation many believe they can do what is right in their own eyes, without reference to anyone else.

Even the Lord's Prayer starts, "Our Father." Listen to many people pray, and you will notice they do not have a corporate dimension in their prayers. They are not thinking of their brothers; they are thinking of self and what they want to accomplish. They tend to think of their gifts, their ministries, and their abilities. Many tend to go off and do "their ministry" regardless of what anyone else thinks or says. That is totally contrary to the ways of God.

Doing what is "right in [your] own eyes" is what put the people of God in four hundred years of bondage. Then comes Samuel, and you have a brand-new story: God assigned this moment to Samuel.

"Then I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind. I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before My anointed forever" (1 Sam. 2:35). This verse carries with it so much that is in the mind and heart of God. ..................

I want you to see this from two perspectives:

1. You need to see the heart of God. What has God always been looking for? Then, what does God look for when He comes to your life? What is He looking for in our generation? Does any of this match your life - not because God has confirmed iit Himself?

2. You need to see the heart of Samuel as he responds in his relationship to God.

Jesus had a way of helping people see the condition of their hearts. He said, "These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me" (Matt 15:8). Nowhere in the Bible is it recorded that out of your head come the issues of life. But the Bible does declare, "Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life" (Prov. 4:23). If you want to know if you are responding to God with your head or your heart, look to see what is coming out of your life. You cannot have a good tree and bad fruit (Matt. 7:18). Whatever is in your heart will come out in your life. Our tendency is for each of us to do our own thing and blame everybody else for the conditions of our ministries. .....................