Transcription
First Samuel chapter three starts off with this powerful statement that I want us to take and kind of unpack real quick. Something that's really spoken to me in my life and in my prayer life. It says that the boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. That even though he, I want you to hear this, even though he was a boy, even though he was a young man, he still ministered before the Lord. I want you to know that regardless of your age, that God can use you and that God has a plan and calling for your life. You're not too young, you're not too old. The enemy will tell you you're too young and then one day he'll tell you you're too old. Hear me, the age you are is the age God's called you to be and you can minister.
But here's what I love. In those days, the word of the Lord was rare. There were not many visions. Now, I thought about this in sermons before because this verse speaks so much to me because you can read this verse through two different lenses. And the lens that you take creates your reality in life. So you can look at the scripture and you can say, "In those days, the word of the Lord was rare. There were not many visions." Well, there aren't really many visions, so I guess we're not going to hear from God. That's one perspective.
Or you can hear, "In those days, the word of the Lord was rare." Why? Because there was a lot of sin, probably. There was a lot of distance between God. "There were not many visions." There were not many visions, but there were some. That means that there were times that God made an exception. And I want to be in an exception because I want to have an exceptional relationship with an exceptional God. It's all perspective. If you believe that you won't hear from God, you're right, you won't. But if you believe that you can have a relationship with God where he speaks to you and you hear from him, I believe that God will meet you where you are at.
And just like in the life of Samuel, we hear that God reaches out to this young boy who was always before the Lord ministering to him and growing in his relationship with him. Verse two. One night, Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord where the Ark of God was. Then the Lord called Samuel.
So, some details that we can read into this. There was a responsibility of the priest to make sure that the lamp was lit. I'm gonna guess that probably half the infants were responsible to do this at this point in time, but they were too busy at the gate, uh, fooling around with the women like they were talked about earlier, doing things that were wicked that they shouldn't be doing. And so Eli, who's probably past the age where he should be responsible for this type of work anymore, he's in an elderly age, probably still had to do this because his sons weren't following through on what they were responsible for.
Why I think it's important? Because as parents and grandparents, it's a signal for us. Don't always cover for your kids. Don't rob your children from adversity because adversity is what made you the man or woman you are today. There are certain times, as hard as it is as a parent, we have to allow our children to fail. Now, we don't let them fail and leave them. We let them fail and then we help them learn how to get back up. A lot of times as parents, in our desire to help our kids, sometimes we will unintentionally hurt our kids. Now, that's me probably reading a lot into the story, but I just wanted to share that with you today.
It says, "The Lord called Samuel." And Samuel answered, "Here I am." And he ran to Eli and said, "Here I am, you called me." But Eli said, "I did not call. Go back and lie down." So he went and he laid down again. The Lord called Samuel, and Samuel got up and went to Eli and he said, "Here I am, you called me, my son." Eli said, "I did not call. Go back and lie down." Verse seven. Now, Samuel did not yet know the Lord. The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. Samuel did not yet have that deep of an intimacy in his walk with God where he could hear God's voice and know that it was God. It's showing us that Samuel's getting to a point in his relationship with God where God's taking him a little bit deeper than he's been before. Oh, how I pray that we all go deeper and deeper and deeper in our walk with God.
Verse eight. A third time the Lord called Samuel, and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am, you called me." Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, "Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, 'Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.'" So Samuel went and laid down in his place. So the Lord came again and he stood there, calling out as he did the other time, "Samuel, Samuel." Then Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant is listening." I'm listening, God. I'm listening, God. I'm ready to do what you've called me to do. I'm ready to hear your voice. I'm ready to go deeper in relationship with you.
Verse eleven. And the Lord said to Samuel, "See, I'm about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle. At that time, I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family from beginning to end. For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about his sons' blaspheming God, and he failed to restrain them." Okay, he's dealing with his sons, but he's also dealing with Eli. His sons were wicked and they blasphemed God and they were contemptible before the Lord, and they did so many wicked things. But he's also dealing with Eli because Eli, who could have dealt with them, chose not to. We need to be oh so careful to realize it's not just what we do, but when we're in positions of leadership, there's an accountability to the Lord and to others that we have. Therefore, I swore to the house of Eli, the guilt of Eli's house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.
Samuel lay down until morning, then opened the doors of the house of the Lord. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision, but Eli called him and said, "Samuel, my son." Samuel answered, "Here I am." "What was it he said to you? Do not hide it from me. May God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything he told you." So Samuel told him everything that God had told him, and he hid nothing from him. Then Eli said, "He is the Lord. Let him do what is good in his eyes."
The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of Samuel's words fall to the ground. God was with Samuel, and he promoted him before the people. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba, is basically saying throughout the nation, attested that Samuel was a prophet of the Lord. And the Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word. God had raised up for him another prophet because Eli and his sons were not faithful with what God had trusted them with. Something that we need to be aware of as men and women, as leaders in our community, in whatever situation, season God's called us in. Don't ever believe the lie that says, "I'm irreplaceable." You, you're replaceable. I'm replaceable. We're replaceable. The only one who isn't replaceable is the Lord. And if we don't realize that we're not owners, but we're just stewards, then pride can be lifted up in our heart, and we can believe the lie that we're not held accountable for our actions. And we are all called to give an account for what we do and for what we don't do, for what we say and what we don't say.
My prayer is that we would all walk in wisdom, and that we would have an all-in reverence of God in the things of God, and that we would get closer and closer to him as Samuel did, and that we would have a deep, intimate relationship with the Lord, and that our words would not fall to the ground because God would give us the words of heaven. Be blessed today.
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