Text: 1 Samuel 12:20–25
Topic: How to return to God when we've wandered from him

• Illustration: Robert Robinson, who wrote "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing," is said to have told a woman near the end of his life, "Madam, I am the poor unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago, and I would give a thousand worlds—if I had them—to enjoy the feelings I had then."
• There are times when we feel as if the best years of our lives are behind us, because we've wandered far from God.
• First Samuel 12:20–25 explains how we find our way back to God.

• Samuel lists several things God's people should do, which can all be summed up in this phrase: reorient your life to God.
• First, Samuel instructs the Israelites to turn only to the Lord (12:20–21).
• People generally turn to God—or a god—when they want something good they can't attain, or when they want out of something terrible they can't escape.
• If we want to return to a relationship with God, we must stop turning to anyone or anything else to help us.
• The second thing we must do is fear the Lord (12:24a).
  • Illustration: In the British television program "Rumpole of the Bailey," Horace Rumpole refers to his wife as "she who must be obeyed."
• In the Bible, the fear of the Lord and obeying the Lord are connected.
• Third, Samuel commands Israel to "serve the Lord faithfully with all your heart" (12:24b).
• We must do everything with a Christ-like attitude of service and love.
  • Illustration: A missionary explains that he and his wife do not enjoy aspects of their work, but their love for Christ compels them to obey his command to go and serve.
• Fourth, Samuel commands Israel to "consider what great things he has done for you" (12:24c).
• First of all, remember what Jesus has done for you on the cross. One way to do that is through Communion.
• Also, think of how God maneuvered you to salvation, and how God was doing great things for you even in life's harshest experiences.
• There is only so much we can do.

• What Samuel promised Israel was a shadow of what we enjoy now as Christians.
• The anchor of these verses is verse 22: "God was pleased to make you his own."
• When you've been a spiritual failure, it is a matter of life and death that you remember that long before you made God your God, "God was pleased to make you his own."
• In verse 19, the people wanted Samuel to pray for them, because they were well aware of their wickedness.
• The Israelites trusted God would listen to Samuel; he was the only one with whom God was not angry, because he had not sinned as they had.
• In the same way, when we return to God from our wandering, he welcomes us only because we have Christ as our intercessor.
  • Illustration: In his book Prayer, Philip Yancey explains that Jesus now changes the world by praying for us Christians.
• Samuel knew the people needed to know how to walk with God, so he promised to show them how.
• We have a better teacher by far than Samuel—the Holy Spirit.
• Just because I know "the way that is good and right" doesn't mean I'll walk in it.
  • Illustration: Eclov describes Clean Living Assistants, who are hired by celebrities to help them live disciplined lives.
• In a sense, the Holy Spirit is our clean living assistant who not only teaches us the way that is good and right, but helps us walk in it.

• There is no one who wants to come back to God who cannot, because God can be trusted to do everything we cannot.

For the full text of this sermon, go to "The Shadow of Jesus."