Bid the servant pass on before us.
Samuel and the young man Saul
This was Samuel’s third interview with this goodly young man. This time he spoke to him with great closeness of personal application, sending the servant out of the way that he might say things to him which nobody else might hear. He tried to speak to the young man’s inmost soul. The prophet felt a deep solemnity, his whole heart saying every word that fell from his lip. I think I hear his earnest tones, and accents sweetened by a great love, for Samuel loved Saul, and it was his affection which made him speak so earnestly and pointedly. This time the preacher would hold you fast, as if he said to each one, “I will not let thee go unless thou givest thy heart to Christ, and become His servant from this very hour.”
I. First, let us think upon the attention which he requested. He said to the servant, “Pass on before us,” and he passed on. Bid the servant pass on; forget for a while your business, forget your family, forget your joys, forget your sorrows. I wish I could so speak that men would say of my preaching what they said of Whitefield’s. One man said, “Whenever I went to church before, I calculated how many looms the church would hold”--for he was a weaver--“but when I heard Whitefield I never thought of a loom.” Another said, “While I have been in church I have often built a ship from stem to stern; but when I heard Mr. Whitefield I could not lay a plank; he took my mind right away from such things, and occupied me with higher thoughts.” The next point in the attention requested was the desire that he would “stand still a while.” I pray you bask in the gospel as men do in the sunlight when they would be warm. Let the gospel have its own legitimate effect upon you. Lay bare your bosom to it. Ask that your soul may have no stone of carelessness laid upon it, as though it were a dead thing in a sepulchre, but that it may come forth in resurrection life through the quickening word of the Divine Spirit. Is not this what the word of God deserves? Should it not have our living, loving attention? When God speaks let all be silent. I have heard that the great clock at St. Paul’s can scarcely be heard in Cheapside, by reason of the traffic that is going on; and so the most solemn voices are drowned amidst the din and uproar of our business, and we do not often hear God’s voice, unless we are accustomed to give ourselves a little quiet and holy stillness, and sit in our chamber alone, and say, “Now, Lord, commune with me.” As the Word of God deserves such quiet attention, it certainly is only by such attention that it is likely to bless us. I remember a child who used to be noted for great attention during sermon, and his mother, noticing his deep earnestness, asked him why He said, “Because, mother, I heard the preacher once say that if there was a piece of the discourse that was likely to be of good to our souls, Satan would try to make us lose it; and as I do not know which part God will bless me by, I try to hear it all, and to remember it all.” Oh, when people come to listen to the preacher with such a spirit as that, it is sweet work to preach. But many things arise to prevent this attrition. You cannot get some folks to be still, they are so frivolous; you cannot make them think. Some men dread the process of thinking, almost as much as they would a touch of the “cat” on their backs. They cannot bear to consider and meditate. God has distinguished them above brutes by giving them the faculty of thought, but this high privilege they try to ignore. Do stand still a while, and let nothing come in to break the silence of your spirit, while you listen to the voice of God. I would earnestly persuade every one here who is not saved to get an hour alone somehow.
II. The subject upon which Samuel discoursed with Saul, or rather the subject about which I would discourse at this time, if I am so happy as to have secured your ear. The subject is the Word of God. That God should give us a Word at all is very gracious. It is wonderful that he should condescend to speak to us, because we cannot understand much: we are like little children at the very best. In the particular word of God which Samuel spoke to Saul there was some likeness to the message which I am bound to deliver to you! Samuel spoke to Saul about a kingdom, of which this young man should be the king. Little did Saul dream that on this day the kingdom should be given him, and little dost thou dream of it perhaps as yet; but I pray thee let me show thee the word of God, for thou mayest yet find a kingdom there, a kingdom for thee, a crown of life for thee which fadeth not away, and a seat at the right hand of God with Christ in the day of His appearing.
2. Samuel not only spoke about the kingdom, but he showed him the word of God by an anointing Thou sayest, “I am not capable of high and noble things.” Thou shalt be made capable, for in the day when God anoints thee thou shalt receive strength,--“To as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God.” Thou shalt receive enlightenment and illumination by the Divine unction of the Holy Ghost.
3. Samuel spake to Saul about another matter, namely, about a change that he should undergo. Hast thou never heard that God can create thee for the second time? can destroy in thee the power for sin, and bring thee under another dominion, and make thee an eager after right as thou hast been after wrong, and make thee as happy in the service of Christ as ever thou wast in the service of the devil, ay, and ten thousand times more so? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Stand thou still a while that I may shew thee the Word of God.
Communications from God to Man
The text suggests two remarks concerning Divine communication to man.
I. They are necessary to qualify him for the discharge of his obligations. Saul was about assuming an office of enormous responsibility, and Samuel felt that a knowledge of the “Word of God” was of primary importance to him. “I may shew thee the word of God.”
1. The word of God is essential to enlighten us as to our duty. On no subject has man made greater mistakes than on that of duty. The greatest sages of the old world blundered terribly on this point. But how clearly it is unfolded in the Divine Word! “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.” “Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with thy God,” “Whatsoever ye would that men would do unto you do ye even so to them.”
2. The word of God is necessary to stimulate us in the discharge of our duty. Where else can we find motives strong enough for this purpose.
II. That patient waiting is necessary for the reception of these communications. “But stand thou still a while that I may shew thee the word of God.” God’s voice cannot be heard in the hurry and bustle of life. There must be the halt and the hush, the pause and the quiet.
1. “Stand thou still a while” to listen. The ear must be opened. “Incline thine ear,” etc.
2. “Stand thou still a while,” to interpret. Ponder the meaning, pass from the sound to the sense, from the symbol to the substance.
3. “Stand thou still a while,” to apply. Apply the meaning to your own condition, experience, circumstances. Conclusion:--The words may be legitimately applied to all the good who are pressed down with the trials of life. To every tried saint I might say, “Stand thou still a while,” and
(1) Thou shalt have a solution of those intellectual difficulties that embarrass thee.
(2) Thou shalt be delivered from all the moral infections that grieve thee.
(3) Thou shalt be freed from all afflictions that oppress thee. (Homilist.)
Samuel and Saul
I. Samuel found much that was good in Saul. A cluster of excellencies incidentally present themselves in this chapter.
1. Saul had reverence for his father. He promptly obeyed his father; yet he was “from his shoulders and upwards taller,” etc.
2. Saul was no idler. He was no stranger to work; yet his father was “a mighty man of power.”
3. Saul was not particular as to the kind of work he did. We have his photograph in verse
2. Yet this splendid young man went in search of the lost asses: no person who is usefully employed is ignobly employed.
4. Saul found teachers everywhere. He listened to and was advised by his servant: he was guided by young maidens.
5. Saul was very modest and humble (1 Samuel 9:21).
II. Samuel touches the one guiding principle of a true life, “Stand thou still a while. .. ”This is the world’s only safe guiding star. Whoever would live a true life must often say with the child Samuel: “Speak Lord for. .. ”
1. Sometimes we are tossed by restlessness. Soul satisfaction, heart rest, are far from us. These are eagerly but vainly sought in company, pleasure, business, intellectual pursuits; what is wanted? A teacher to say in tones that will compel attention. “Stand thou. .. ”
2. Sometimes we are moved by covetousness. Men get the hunger of gold, and houses, and lands upon them. O, that some prophet of God would stand across their path, and in ringing tones that would make them pause, tremble, and repent, say: “Stand. .. ”
3. Sometimes we are pressed by difficulties. We must take care how we get free; Satan will be quite ready to help us; but he will not do it for nothing; he is a lawyer who never goes without his fee. Find one who with eyes bent upon this book will say: “Stand. .. ”
III. Saul’s great disasters and his final overthrow were the results of his neglect of “the Word of God.” Saul made a good beginning, but a terribly sad ending. Alas! what numbers do the same. (R. Berry.)
It is not easy to stand still
Now, there is Saul, a great, big, six-and-a-half-foot man, and broad in proportion. Head and shoulders above his fellows, full of health and strength and flesh and blood, full of his own plans and his own purposes; and Samuel virtually says, “Saul, halt! I can do nothing until I arrest you and get you to stand still, body and soul, to listen to the word of God.” Now, there, Sauls, I speak as a Samuel. I have all the same--ay, and more--reason, if I am God’s messenger at all, and if you believe in God and that there is anything in the preacher’s gift, the offered Lord Jesus Christ, then give me your full attention. “Stand still,” and it is not easy. Did you ever, when you were young, take your father’s spirit level out of the long pocket, as I used to take my father’s out of the moleskins, and try to hold it straight and steady, There you were, watching the little bead in the glass, and you think you have it dead level in the middle, when, without any motion you are aware of, it bangs away to the far end, then back again to the other. Why? There is a movement--the very coursing of your blood through your veins disturbs the balance. My friend, the devil counts on that trouble to spoil the Gospel. He knows that we are just set on wires--that he can fool or annoy with this, that, or the other thing. He knows how easily the balance is upset, and he is forever upsetting it. I sympathise with Samuel, coming to that big, healthy young giant, and saying, “Saul, stand still a bit, that I may show you the word of God.” Oh, I know you are still as regards your body, but I will do no good till I get your mind, which is as sensitive as the quicksilver, arrested: and with God’s help I will. (John McNeil.).