1 Samuel 7:5–11

And Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the LORD for you.” So they gathered together at Mizpah, drew water, and poured it out before the LORD. And they fasted that day, and said there, “We have sinned against the LORD.” And Samuel judged the children of Israel at Mizpah.

Now when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel had gathered together at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard of it, they were afraid of the Philistines. So the children of Israel said to Samuel, “Do not cease to cry out to the LORD our God for us, that He may save us from the hand of the Philistines.”

And Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the LORD. Then Samuel cried out to the LORD for Israel, and the LORD answered him. Now as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But the LORD thundered with a loud thunder upon the Philistines that day, and so confused them that they were overcome before Israel. And the men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, and drove them back as far as below Beth Car.

In the first verse in today’s passage (1 Samuel 7:5), what was Samuel supposed to pray for?

The answer is in the previous passage: Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “If you return to the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths from among you, and prepare your hearts for the LORD, and serve Him only; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.”  — 1 Samuel 7:3

And how does God answer this prayer?

Backwards. The next thing that happens is the Philistines attack. The Israelites must be wondering what went wrong. Now they’re afraid and ask Samuel to pray (even more) that they be saved.

But what God has up His sleeve is the deliverance they asked for.

He’s just doing it His way instead of theirs.

The amazing thing isn’t that God answers our prayers backwards, upside down, or slant; it’s that He sometimes grants our requests straight up.

My experience is that these straight answers often teach by revealing the error or uselessness of the request. That is, God often mocks my prayer requests by granting them.

Worldly treasures do not satisfy. Unfortunately, we can memorize this until we’re blue in the face and still not really get it. Only by being unsatisfied with something we thought we “needed” do we learn that our need was silly.

So, even when God doesn’t seem to be “creative” in the way He answers our prayers, He’s still being creative.

These Monday—Friday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Weekend DEEPs are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to all the DEEPs click here:

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The weekly study guides, which include the Monday–Friday devotionals plus related questions for discussion or meditation, are available for download here:

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.