Great Things

by Chris Simmons

After Israel sinned (I Samuel 12:19) by asking for king like the nations round about them (I Samuel 8:20), Samuel took the opportunity to remind them that, in spite of the presence of a physical king, they were still under obligation to “follow the Lord” and to “serve the Lord with all your heart” (I Samuel 12:20). The presence of an earthly king had not changed that responsibility. Samuel also told them that he would continue in his prayers on their behalf and in his efforts to teach them God’s will (verse 23) but ultimately, each one of them would be personally responsible for their own faithfulness. In verse 24, Samuel’s final exhortation to the Israelites is one we would do well to consider in light of our own personal responsibility to “follow the Lord.” There he said, “only fear the LORD and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you.” Their “fear” and their ability to “serve Him” with their whole heart was to be fueled by their considerations of the “great things” that God had done for them.

Likewise, our faithfulness will only be complete if we are able to persist in our consideration of the “great things He has done” for us. As we reflect on the “great things” that God did for His people, the Israelites, we often think, “How could they have forgotten all that God had done for them? How could they not remain faithful and how could they not devote their lives to Him who had done so much for them?” Yet, how many of us today give little thought to the “great things” God has done for us? Have we forgotten what we were apart from Christ (Ephesians 2:1-13)?

More than just remembering what God has done for us, our consideration of these “great things” is to lead to our communication of them to others. To the man who Jesus had cast the demon out of in Mark Chapter 5, He told him to “go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you” (Mark 5:19). Have we considered and have we “reported” to others what “great things” God has done for us?

God has bestowed a great love upon us. We read in 1 John 3:1 the need for us to consider “how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are.” What made it such a “great love”? It’s such a great love because God extended it to us while we were yet “children of wrath” and “dead in our transgressions” (Ephesians 2:3-6). God initiated love and the process of fellowship by first loving us while we were yet alienated from Him (I John 4:19). Paul wrote in Romans 5:8, “but God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” It’s also a “great love” because it’s unyielding and unrelenting. Other than by our own choice, nothing can separate us from “the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39; cf verses 31-39). It’s a great love because it’s “agape” love which seeks the best interest of the person on whom it’s extended. It should leave a lasting impression on us that He who created all things, and has all knowledge and all power, has our spiritual best interest in mind. It’s also a great love that God expects to be reciprocated not only to others but back to Himself in the form of our faithful obedience (John 14:15, 21; I John 5:2-3).

God has made possible a great deliverance. We read of Joseph in Genesis 45:7 telling his brothers (that had sold him into slavery) that “God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance.” It was a “great deliverance” in part because of the circumstances that they had been delivered from and the consequences had they not been delivered. The circumstance of Joseph’s family was one in which they did not have the means to sustain their lives and the consequence should they not have been delivered would have been death. Likewise, Jesus is our “Deliverer” (Romans 11:26) and was sent by His Father to provide a “great deliverance” from sin. The reasons that it was great were the same. Apart from Christ we were all spiritually dead in our sins (Romans 3:23; Ephesians 2:3ff) and separated from our Father (Isaiah 59:1-2). Our deliverance has made reconciliation possible and given us the opportunity to be transferred into God’s eternal kingdom (Colossians 1:13-14). The Hebrew writer describes it as “so great a salvation” that can indeed be neglected. We can reject the great deliverance and we can be guilty of simply neglecting it as well.

God has also provided us a great reward. In Luke 6:22-23 Jesus spoke of the incentive to be focused on in order to be able to endure any persecution that we might face, “be glad in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven.” It’s a great reward because it’s unlike any material reward that we could hope for. Peter describes it as a hope that is “imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away” (I Peter 1:4). It’s only “great” to those though who simply refuse to give up or quit and endure until it has been attained. Hebrews 10:35-36, “Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.”

God has given us great blessings. Paul reminds us that to those who are “in Christ” (Romans 6:3-4; Galatians 3:27), God has bestowed “all spiritual blessings” (Ephesians 1:3-5). There is no other place in which those great blessings can be found. We have the promise and assurance that if God was willing to give of His Son, that He will also “freely give us all things” that we need to be successful in the spiritual battle that we are in (Romans 8:31-32). In addition to the intrinsically more valuable spiritual blessings, God has also promised that He will bless us with everything we need (not want) physically if we are willing to seek Him and His righteousness first in our lives (Matthew 6:33).

God has given us a great message. In the Bible, God has revealed to us everything we need to be successful and there is nothing else that we need to be “furnished completely unto every good work” (II Timothy 3:16-17 ASV). God has guaranteed that His word will accomplish everything He intended for it to accomplish (Isaiah 55:10-11). God said that His word “shall not return to Me empty without accomplishing what I desire and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” All the power that is needed to save man from his sins is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ (Romans 1:16). All that is needed from us is to be diligent students of this great divine revelation (II Timothy 2:15) and the courage to do all that God has commanded for us to do.

“Only fear the LORD and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you.”