Day 36: 1 Samuel 28:1–7

He inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him (v. 6).

In verse 3, we learn one of those tidbits of information that we suspect will come back to haunt somebody. Saul had expelled the mediums and spiritists from the land. When Saul learned that the Philistines were preparing for war, he was terrified. He sought God to learn the outcome of the battle. When the Lord did not answer Saul, he sent his attendants to find a medium.

God’s occasional refusal to respond to the pleas of someone in His Word often strikes a humanitarian chord in us. At first we may wonder why God would not answer Saul since Saul first inquired of Him before he sought a spiritist. Does God seem a little unfair to you at first in His lack of response to Saul?

God never responds haphazardly, nor does He withhold an answer without regard. Why is God silent at times? Isaiah 59:1–3 gives us one very valid explanation for God’s occasional silence, and one which certainly applied to Saul at this time. Isaiah wrote:

Your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear (Isa. 59:2).

Remember, Saul continued in disobedience to God. He relentlessly sought the life of an innocent man and even attempted to spear his own son! He had the priests of the Lord slaughtered and gave approval to an entire town being wiped out. We’ve seen some regrets, but we’ve never seen him truly turn from wickedness to righteousness. Notice that Isaiah 59:2 does not say God can’t hear but that He won’t.

I can vividly remember times in my life when God seemed silent, and I realized He was waiting on me to confront and confess certain sins in my life. His silence suggested, “I will not go on to another matter in your life, my child, until we deal with this one.”

One prayer God will surely hear even when we’ve been rebellious and sought our own way is the prayer of sincere repentance. The prayer for deliverance from sin must precede the prayer for deliverance from our enemies.