In I Samuel 7:3, during a message to the people of Israel, Samuel describes what repentance is. He says: “If you return to the Lord with all your heart, remove the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your hearts to the Lord and serve Him alone; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.” Notice that Samuel gives us here a basic overall definition of repentance, as well as describing it both in positive and negative terms:

— He DEFINES repentance: “if you RETURN to the Lord with all your heart.” This is a basic definition of what repentance is; it is a turning back to God from one’s heart.

— He describes it in NEGATIVE terms; what they are to stop doing: “remove the foreign gods and the Ashtoreth from among you.” They are not to be involved with gods other than Yahweh; they are to get rid of them completely. But Biblical repentance is not just a cessation of ungodly practices, it also takes a positive turn:

— He also defines the POSITIVE direction that repentance is to take: “and direct your hearts to the Lord and serve Him alone.” Repentance is not merely “not doing” something bad; but in a positive manner they ARE to turn their hearts back to God.

— He then closes with a mention of the BLESSING that repentance brings: “and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines”. When one repents, there is a promised blessing from God. In I Samuel, that blessing involved deliverance from the Philistines. The New Testament promise for repentance is not material blessing, but salvation from sin through Jesus’ death on the cross, and a personal relationship with the God of glory which will fulfill and satisfy us. But as in Samuel’s day, the blessing cannot not come for us without repentance: like Israel, we must “return” with all our hearts, putting away the sins which have separated us from God, and recommitting ourselves to serve God and God alone from our hearts.