This model can be effective in assisting addicts with pornography, alcohol, drugs, eating, and lying issues.
I Samuel 7
Instructions:
Read I Samuel chapters 5-7. Then, using the following material, walk yourself slowly through chapter seven, considering the New Testament references to which it refers.
After completing this study, engage in a period of self-reflection. Write out your prayer seeking God’s help to practice Samuel’s model over the next two weeks. At the end of two weeks, answer these questions.
Did I make a sincere effort to practice the model?
List specific hindrances you experienced during your attempts.
What help do you need to practice the model more effectively?
Introduction
A variety of addictions plague our people today. But it is nothing new, just new versions, and in essence, it is the same old idolatry. Samuel gives us a useful model for dealing with addictions.
Israel had become addicted to idolatry and foreign gods. Though “Thus the word of Samuel came to all Israel” (4:1), they persisted in idolatry for the first twenty years of his prophetic ministry; it cost them dearly, as we saw in chapters 4-6. This enduring lesson from the past is still relevant today. There was one bright spot. It was at the house of Abinadab where the Ark of the Covenant resided (7:1-2). Matthew Henry, the old English prolific commentator, gives us insight regarding the phrase, “all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord.”
Twenty years of this time had passed before the house of Israel was sensible to the want of the ark. The Septuagint read it somewhat more clearly than we do, and it was twenty years, and (that is, when) the whole house of Israel looked up again to the Lord. So, the longer the ark remained in obscurity, and the Israelites were not sensible to the inconvenience, nor ever made any inquiry after it, what has become of it; though, while it was absent from the tabernacle, the token of God’s special presence was wanting, nor could they keep the day of atonement as it should be kept. They were content with the altars without the ark; so easily can formal professors rest satisfied in a round of external performances without any tokens of God’s presence or acceptance. But at length, they bethought themselves, and began to lament after the lord, stirred up to it, it is probable, by the preaching of Samuel, with which an extraordinary working of the Spirit of God set in. A general disposition to repentance and reformation now appears throughout all Israel, and they begin to look unto him whom they had slighted and to mourn.
With this helpful comment and assistance of the Septuagint, let’s consider God’s remedy for their addiction. It began with Israel wearying of their misery and a stirring of God that brought them to the place where they “lamented after the LORD.” In chapter five, we observe the stupidity of idolatry, where the Philistines find Dagon fallen before the Ark one morning and set him up. Then they find him with his hands and head cut off the next day. Each time, they pick up their god and set him up. Such is the foolishness of addiction to idols—alcohol, drugs, sex, body image, cars; you name it.
Samuel’s Plan Summarized 3
In verse three, Samuel summarizes the plan. It is a precursor to the procedure in Ephesians 4:22-24 and Romans 6:11-13.
The first step is to return to the Lord with all your heart. This is parallel to Ephesians 4:17-23 and Romans 6:11.
The second step is to repent by removing the foreign gods, “Put off” of Ephesians 4:22. For example, for the alcoholic, it eliminates people, places, and things (containers of alcohol, drug paraphernalia, etc.) from one’s life that facilitate practicing idolatry.
The third step is refocusing your heart on the Lord, “direct your hearts to the Lord to serve Him alone.” This is the equivalent of the “renewing the mind” of Ephesians 4:23.
The fourth step is passive. Watch the LORD retrieve your life by delivering you from your addiction.
Samuel’s Plan Procedure 4-17
Remove the idols 4
This is what he told them they must do. They listened and did so.
Revive the heart 5-6
Samuel was charged with prayer but was undoubtedly a model of how they should pray. Having others pray for us and having a counselor teach us how to pray is good.
Worship: they were not at the Tabernacle, so the worship was truncated, consisting of fasting for the day and making a semblance of a drink offering.
Counsel, the word judged here, is best understood as counseled. Samuel counsels them with the Word of God, emphasizing how God would have them live.
Recognize Satan’s counterattack 7
When a person is addicted to an idol and removes it from their life, Satan will counterattack. For the alcoholic, boredom, self-doubt, or discomfort with losing the idol may be the “Philistine” that Satan uses. It is wise to anticipate this counterattack and be prepared to repel it.
Remain dependent upon God 8-11
Remember to seek help from those around you. “They were afraid…came of Samuel saying, “do not cease cry to the LORD our God for us, that He may save us from the hand of the Philistines.” (8-9)
Retain an attitude of worship with the expectation of God’s acting on your behalf 10
Purse dispersing the idol from your life (11). When the “Philistines” showed up, what were you thinking? Self-pity, rejection, loneliness—name it, reject it, and affirm God’s love for you and His good intentions toward you. Write out a prayer of thanksgiving, read I Samuel 7, and engage in worship, prayer, fellowship, even playing a round of golf and praise the LORD for His strength and good hand upon you as you play.
Reminder markers are useful and biblical 12
Samuel set up a marker stone for Israel as their reminder. When Joshua led the people through the Jordan River, he had men bring rocks and set up a marker to remind them that the LORD divided the river, just like He had the Red Sea under Moses to bring them into the Promised Land. Remembering and markers to help people remember are themes that run through the Scriptures.
So, what kind of market can the alcoholic set up? Or what type of marker can you set up to remind you not to return to your idol and to stay on the course of worshiping only the LORD God Almighty? This can be as simple as a 4X6 card on the visor of your car that reads, “This card is your stone to remind you to worship only the LORD God.” You may make more than one card to put in places that would be strategic for you.
Retain freedom by your walk with the LORD 13
For the Israelites, this meant they would be free of the dominance of hostile nations, who were hostages to idol worship and the Satan behind the idols.
For the Christian, Jesus put it this way, “If you love me, keep my commandments (John 14:15). And when we do, He appends to this His blessing (16-31). The Apostle John tells us, “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin (I John 1:7).
Rebuild life 14-17
Here, we do well to pop over to the book of Joel, where we read about another spiritual principle that brings hope to the reformed idolater. Simply stated, it is this. The repentant sinner will find his spiritual life rewarding. For Israel, repentance and worship yielded fellowship with God and prosperity in the land.
Joel declares, “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust [that is] my great army which I sent among you. You shall eat in plenty, be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And My people shall never be put to shame (27.) Then you shall know that I am with Israel: I am the Lord your God, and there is no other. My people shall never be put to shame.”
The principle applies to Christians. Vertically, repentance and worship yield fellowship with God and one another (review I John 1:7). As a rule, the idol worshiper’s horizontal life becomes richer and fuller at the expense of a relationship with God, with the conclusion that all is vanity.
Conclusion
Idolatry, addiction, is not new. Adam and Eve became idolaters in the original sin. They incorporated the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in that sin. Each became an idol because each overrode God. They worship the idol in place of God. Throughout the Old Testament and ancient history, idolatry flourished. The moral law of Exodus 20 codified the prohibition of idolatry, “you shall have no other gods before me,” and this was reinforced with, “You shall not make for yourself an idol…You shall not worship them or serve them…”
Our hearts can quickly become idol factories, turning many good things into gods1. In our world today, the four idols that yield incredible negative consequences are alcohol, drugs, sex, and body dysphoria (with the fallout of abuse of drugs and the advances of medicine to facilitate this idolatry. Alcohol and drugs, even when severely abused, respond to the Samuel model when put into practice. Body dysphoria may yield unalterable consequences, but praise God; repentance will facilitate the reformation of thinking, affecting revival and establishing walking in the light as He is in the light.
1 Ultimately, all idolatry is self-worship. It is man desiring to be in complete control of life. Review Romans 1:17-32. Note verse 25. “For they (mankind) exchange the truth of God for a lie, and worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.” Verses 19-21 provide the legal basis for God declaring, “Professing to be wise, they became fools.” Did you note that Samuel pointed out that the Philistines were very aware of who the God of Israel was and what He was capable of? Only fools, as verse 22 indicates, peruse idolatry.