1 Samuel 7:8

Cease not to cry. Literally, “Do thou not be silent from calling.” There come moments of testing to all men, each in his own sphere of activity. To Samuel it was a test, first as to whether he would wait for the Lord to lead, and second, whether the people would trust in the Lord rather than run in terror from the advancing hosts. To the people it was as severe a test, for, having given up their idols whom they had served all these years, they wondered whether this prophet, who had visited them time after time, would vouchsafe victory to them. Theirs was to be a practical demonstration of Jehoshaphat’s statement: “Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper” (2 Chron. 20:20).