The Call of the Word
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.
At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was.
Then the Lord called Samuel, and he said, “Here I am!” and ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down.
And the Lord called again, “Samuel!” and Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.
And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
And the Lord came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.” Then the Lord said to Samuel, “Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.”
Samuel lay until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. But Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son.” And he said, “Here I am.” And Eli said, “What was it that he told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also if you hide anything from me of all that he told you.” So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. And he said, “It is the Lord. Let him do what seems good to him.”
And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the Lord. And the Lord appeared again at Shiloh, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord.
Bibles out!
Same voice - the same God, same plan of salvation - people were saved the same way - God did many of the same things
The God that spoke in the OT, is the God that spoke in the NT, and He still speaks today.
Are we listening?
Because just like He did with Abraham, and just like He did with Israel, as we will see - just like He did with Samuel - God calls people to Himself in the same way today.
Will we answer the call?
Well, today, we will consider the calling of Samuel, and I want us to consider how we have answered the call of God.
To understand what’s going on in this chapter, we need to back up to where we ended last week. We saw the sin of Eli and his sons, and the prophet come to Eli to tell him that the Aaronic priesthood would come to an end because the priests - Eli and his sons - did not honor God, and he ends with these words of God:
And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind. And I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before my anointed forever. And everyone who is left in your house shall come to implore him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread and shall say, “Please put me in one of the priests’ places, that I may eat a morsel of bread.” ’ ”
We see that contrast being drawing between faithful priests of God, and unfaithful priests of God.
God would raise up a true Priest - Who is ultimately Christ - and a whole family - a house - of spiritual priests that would minister in His presence, and that includes us. And the physical line of priests will have the priesthood - and all of its blessings - taken way.
Well, the writer continues that contrast in chapter 3, and we see it actually begin to play out here. Remember, Samuel is a type of Christ. The ultimate fulfillment of the faithful priest is Christ, but it will first be Samuel. Who we find faithfully serving as a priest:
Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.
First, this word for boy is the same word used of Isaac in Genesis 22. It doesn’t mean a child, necessarily. It means a young man. It is often used of men in their late teens or even their twenties.
And we see that Samuel was ministering to YHWH. He was doing the work of a priest even though he was not of Aaronic descent. He was a spiritual priest.
And this contrast is played out in this chapter, and it is set up by what we read next: the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.
I don’t want us to overlook the wording here. We are told that the word of the Lord was rare in those days.
Now the “word of the Lord” - or the “word of YHWH” - in the Bible means a few different things in different contexts. It may speak of the Bible itself. It speaks of the actual words of God recorded or spoken through His prophets and Apostles.
Sometimes, the word of the Lord means the specific commands of the Lord. We are told over and over that faithful people like Moses did things according to the word of the Lord.
Other times, we read about the Word of the Lord coming to this or that person, usually a prophet.
And I think that when we read in the Old Testament that the Word of the Lord came to someone, we think that this is the voice of God speaking to a prophet, whether audibly or supernaturally somehow so they can prophesy.
But note how this is worded here: the Word of the Lord was rare in those days, there was no frequent vision. And it isn’t saying two different thing here. That the word of the Lord was rare, and on top of that, there were no visions being had.
It’s all one thought: the word of the Lord was rare, there was no frequent vision. It speaks of the same thing two different ways.
Now how can the Word of the Lord be in a vision? How can you see a Word?
Well, there’s another way that this “Word of YHWH” is referred to in the Bible:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
And what or Who is this Word? What does this have to do with the visibility of the Word in 1 Samuel?
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
We see here that the Word can, in fact, be seen.
The Gospel writer describes this Word as being the eternal God, but somehow different from God. And then says that this Word became physical, and was seen by him and a bunch of other people.
And of course, this Word is none other than Christ Himself.
And that is how the “Word of the Lord” is being used here:
Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.
This is talking about the pre-incarnate Christ. This is the same Word as John 1:1. So many will say that the writer of the fourth Gospel is pulling from the Greek philosophical idea of "the word” - the basis of divine reason.
But I see no reason to deviate from what the Bible has already established. Multiple times in the Old Testament, we are told about the Word of the Lord appearing - being seen - by the people of God.
Like with Abraham. We all probably know the story of God making a covenant with Him, but Who are we told made the covenant with him?
After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”
This is the first time in the Bible the phrase “Word of the Lord” is used.
And here, the Word of the Lord is seen. He comes to Abraham in a vision.
And Abraham calls Him YHWH:
But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
And the Word of the Lord - Who is YHWH - interacts physically with Abraham:
And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
And then He claims to be YHWH:
And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”
And Moses who wrote the book calls Him YHWH:
Genesis 15:18 (ESV)
On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram…
YHWH came - appeared - as the Word in order to make this covenant.
This is Christ - not as Jesus of Nazareth - but in a pre-incarnate physical form - coming to Abraham to make the covenant with Him. This is God the Son in physical form making this covenant, of which we are heirs because the Word became flesh and died for our sins to make a covenant with us.
This is Who is in view whenever we read in the Old Testament that “the Word of the Lord came” to someone.
And this is Who - we are told - was not appearing at this point in Israel’s history:
Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.
And this should not be a surprise. Think of what we talked about last week. How Israel had fallen away already from what God called them to be. How there were unbelievers serving in the priesthood and sinning greatly in the sight of God. How throughout their history the nation cycled through periods of mass unbelief.
Of course God was not appearing to such people.
And when God saved Israel and called them as His, He told them there were conditions for them to stay His people. And He a few times tells them how they will be blessed if they obey and meet those conditions, and how they would be cursed if they did not.
And the ultimate blessing was His presence, and the ultimate curse was the removal of His presence - which eventually happens.
And when God promises this blessing for obedience, the ultimate blessing of His presence is put this way:
And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.
God meant this. At times, He would literally - visibly - walk among them as the pre-incarnate Christ. This is Who is spoken of when we read things like:
Exodus 33:11 (ESV)
Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.
Why is this important? Because we see much more than types of Christ in the Old Testament. We see more than pointers to Him and pictures of Him.
We see Christ Himself.
And in our passage today, we will see Christ Himself. That’s Who is being talked about here.
And we see here at the start of the chapter, Christ had not been walking among the people of Israel. He was not making His presence known to them.
Why? Because as we have seen: they were not honoring Him. Their hearts were far from Him, so He was far from them. Like with Eli and his sons.
And we see that in the description here:
Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.
At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was.
Note how masterfully the writer says so much in only a few sentences. This excites me. Some of the writers of the Bible were really good writers, humanly speaking.
The writer here tells us that there were no frequent visions - referring to God making His presence known to His people through the Word of YHWH. And he tells us then that Eli’s eyesight had begun to grow dim. Literally, “his eye started to dim.” This is pointing us to something beyond a physical ailment here.
Yes, Eli was old - we saw that in the last chapter - and his physical eyesight isn’t what it once was at this point. But there’s more here. There were no visions of God, because the High Priest’s eye started to dim. Eli lost his eye for God. God wasn’t revealing Himself to the High Priest because the High Priest didn’t have eyes to see.
And notice, while Samuel was lying down in the Temple, where the Ark of God was, Eli was lying in his own place.
Now, there was no Temple yet, only the Tabernacle, the Old Testament often conflates the two. Because they are both the place of God’s presence. The Ark itself represented the presence of God. That’s why it was kept in a separate room where nobody could go. Because nobody can come into the presence of God and live.
Only once a year, the High Priest could come before the Ark - before the presence of the Lord. That was on the Day of Atonement.
But here, we have Samuel in the Temple - in the place where the presence of God was - while the High Priest is in his own place.
This is another contrast being drawn between the two. Samuel lived in the presence of God, and Eli did not.
And as we have seen, we are priests of God, and we are called to live in His presence. Why? Because He has called us into His presence.
Notice: He calls us.
And here, we see Him call Samuel. Literally.
Then the Lord called Samuel, and he said, “Here I am!” and ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down.
YHWH calls Samuel, and Samuel responds, not knowing Who he’s even responding to. He thinks its Eli calling him. And he goes running to Eli and Eli tells him to shut up and go back to sleep.
And the Lord called again, “Samuel!” and Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.”
And the same thing happens again. Notice: Samuel audibly hears a voice. He thinks Eli is calling him. So he goes to him, and Eli again tells him to go back to sleep.
And then we read this:
Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.
Remember what we said last week about knowing the Lord. We saw that Hophni and Phinehas did not know the Lord. They were not in a saving covenant relationship with Him.
And here, we see that Samuel as of yet did not know the Lord. Isn’t it amazing? Samuel did not know the Lord, and yet here is God calling Him.
And note what it says here. Samuel didn’t know the Lord because the Word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to Him. And Who is the Word of the Lord?
It’s Christ. It’s God the Son. Samuel did not know God, because Christ hadn’t revealed Him to him yet.
No one can know God, unless and until Christ reveals Him to them.
As Christ told His disciples:
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Christ is God’s revelation of Himself to those He calls.
And He is about to reveal Himself to Samuel.
And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
Eli realizes what’s going on. Notice: he wasn’t hearing the voice of YHWH. God doesn’t reveal Himself to Eli in a vision. Eli didn’t have eyes to see or ears to hear.
But he realizes what’s happening, and he tells Samuel what’s going on. And he tells him: if you hear the voice again, say “Speak, YHWH, for your servant hears.”*
And then God calls Samuel a fourth time.
And the Lord came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.”
Note now that this isn’t just a voice. It isn’t just disembodied words floating around in the air. YHWH now came and stood, calling as at other times.
This is the Word of God - taking physical form - in order to call Samuel to Him. Christ is revealing YHWH to Samuel. Christ is calling Samuel to Him.
And Samuel responds to Him. He tells God that he’s ready to hear what God wants to tell him.
Then the Lord said to Samuel, “Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.”
So God - the pre-incarnate Christ - tells Samuel what the prophet said to Eli already. That’s what we saw last week. The prophet condemned Eli for joining his sons in their sin by honoring them above God.
And he told Eli that his sons were going to die, and that his house and the house of Aaron would come to an end.
Now why is God telling this to Samuel? Because this is Samuel’s calling as a prophet.
And in the Old Testament, whenever we have the calling of a prophet recorded, there are always some similarities. We don’t have the calling of every prophet recorded - just a few.
But when we have an account of a prophet’s calling, it is always:
1. a physical and visible appearance of God - the pre-incarnate Christ
2. and He calls the prophet, and tells him what to say
We see it with the calling of Isaiah:
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.
Isaiah visibly sees God, and God tells Isaiah what he is to say:
And he said, “Go, and say to this people:
“ ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
Make the heart of this people dull,
and their ears heavy,
and blind their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”
Who is this appearing to Isaiah? It’s the pre-incarnate Christ. How do we know that?
Because in the Gospel of John, we read this about Jesus:
John 12:36–43 (ESV)
When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
“Lord, who has believed what he heard from us,
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said,
“He has blinded their eyes
and hardened their heart,
lest they see with their eyes,
and understand with their heart, and turn,
and I would heal them.”
Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.
The “Him” that Isaiah saw is the same “Him” that did signs for these people and the same “Him” that many of them believed in. This is Jesus. Here, we see that Who Isaiah saw was none other than God the Son - the Word - Christ.
Jeremiah had a similar calling:
Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” But the Lord said to me,
“Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’;
for to all to whom I send you, you shall go,
and whatever I command you, you shall speak.
Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
declares the Lord.”
Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me,
“Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
Notice Who it is that appears to young Jeremiah to call him to his prophetic ministry. It’s the Word of YHWH. Then, much like Abraham, Jeremiah calls the One Who appeared to him, Lord YHWH.
Then, this Word of YHWH Who is also YHWH physically puts out His hand and touches Jeremiah.
This is Christ. He appears visibly to those He calls as prophets.
That’s what He is doing for Samuel here - calling him as a prophet of God. Appearing to him, and giving him the words he is to say.
And the Lord came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.” Then the Lord said to Samuel, “Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.”
And then we read:
Samuel lay until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. But Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son.” And he said, “Here I am.” And Eli said, “What was it that he told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also if you hide anything from me of all that he told you.” So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. And he said, “It is the Lord. Let him do what seems good to him.”
Now, Eli already had a pretty good idea of what Samuel was told by God. He had already heard it from the other prophet who told him. And he tells Samuel not to hold back - tell him everything.
And Samuel tells Eli everything. And it is what the other prophet already told Eli.
And Eli’s response more literally is: “It’s YHWH, what seems good in His eyes, He does.”
And we see the character of Eli in this once again. This is not faith. This is not - “I trust God to do what’s right.” This is more dismissive. It is a more eloquent “whatever”.
Why do I say that?
Because just look at the history of Israel up until this point that we saw last week. They messed up - a lot. They liked to complain about what they didn’t have. They liked to go their own way and do what they wanted.
Yet every time they repented, God forgave, and God restored them.
And even when they forgot all that God had done, they didn’t forget that He would forgive if they repented. And we know that, because inevitably, as soon as the situation they put themselves in seemed worse to them than obeying God, they came running back to Him begging for forgiveness.
They could have returned at any time, but until their own way was shown to be worse than God’s way, they didn’t.
In the same way, Eli and his sons could have repented. But God knew they wouldn’t. And they didn’t. Eli could have - after getting this confirmation from Samuel of what the other prophet told him - he could have dropped to his knees and prayed to God for forgiveness and turned from his sin.
But he didn’t. Because he preferred his way to God’s. HE says: “He’s God, He’ll do whatever He wants.”
Just like Eli and his sons did whatever they wanted.
Just like the world does whatever they want.
Just like so many of us, so often, do whatever we want.
And I know, hindsight is 20/20, and it is hard to understand looking back why after God made it clear that going his own way wouldn’t turn out well for him, why didn’t Eli repent and return to God?
I mean, God said very clearly in His Law what he and his sons needed to do to be right with Him, and they still preferred to do what they wanted? Who would do that?
I would think for someone who claims to be a follower of YHWH that such direct messaging would stop you in your tracks and make sure everything you did was according to God’s will!
Because we see in this prophecy where the alternative ends up.
Man, the God of the Old Testament is scary, right? All that judgment. All those warnings. What the Word of YHWH just said to Samuel is pretty harsh. Why didn’t the Word talk that way when He came as Jesus?
If God doesn’t change, why didn’t Jesus make it clear that to go our own way will end up like that?
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Or:
For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Well, at least He doesn’t say things as harshly as He did to Eli here. Right?
“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
The same Word of YHWH that spoke to Samuel is the same Word of YHWH that speaks in the Gospels. The same voice speaks in both Testaments. And the same rules apply.
Because we still only have the same two types of people. The only two-types of people there are. The only two types of people that have ever existed. There are those who have faith leading to faithfulness - trust in God leading to action in accordance with His will - and there is everyone else.
And as we saw last week, there is no middle ground. Apathy towards God is treated like contempt towards God.
Doing what God commands you not to do is not really worse than not doing what He commands you to.
And we have Eli, who was so apathetic that he preferred to do things his way even knowing what God says about that.
And then you have Samuel. God called. And he answered:
And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the Lord.
We see again that Samuel grew. This is not just physically, but spiritually. When God called him, he didn’t immediately become a great prophet. He wasn’t right off the bat a great priest. He didn’t just know how to lead the people of Israel.
But because he answered God’s call, he grew. And God was with him. We read that in the last chapter and we read that here. Samuel was obedient - freely obedient - to God, and God was with Him. And Samuel grew in His presence, he grew in faith and in faithfulness.
And we see in this that interplay between God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility. God is sovereign over salvation. But man has a responsibility, too. Once we know God, we don’t just sit back and say “have your way with me God” and then ignore what He has already told us.
We say “speak, Lord, for your servant hears” and we listen to what He has told us and faithfully obey.
And if we do that, we will grow. And God will guard our steps and what we endeavor to do for Him according to His Word - He will sovereignly let none of it fall to the ground. Our work will accomplish what God has determined it will.
And we will grow in faith, and in faithfulness.
Samuel faithfully obeyed. And look at what happens. All Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of YHWH.
And that “Dan to Beersheba” means from the northern tip of Israel to the southern tip. It’s a metaphor to mean everyone in Israel. They all knew that Samuel was now called of the Lord to be a prophet.
But that means, that they knew the Lord was speaking through Samuel. This is about the Lord’s fame, not Samuel’s. You can’t be a famous prophet of God if the God you speak for doesn’t have that fame.
In other words, because of Samuel’s faith and his faithfulness to God’s call on his life - all the people of God knew what God was doing in Israel.
And that’s where the chapter ends:
And the Lord appeared again at Shiloh, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord.
Remember, Shiloh is where the Tabernacle was - where the presence of God was.
As we saw, He did not appear - He was not walking among His people - when Eli and his sons were the priests. But now, He appeared again. He revealed Himself to Samuel at Shiloh - how? - by the Word of the Lord.
He revealed Himself and again walked among His people as the Word of the Lord.
He was present with them because of the faithfulness of His servant, Samuel.
God called.
Samuel answered.
And the Word of God worked.
Brothers and sisters, God is calling. Right now - today - God is calling.
Do we have ears to hear?
Do we have eyes to see?
There are those here who have heard the Lord calling and have not answered.
I don’t know, maybe you’re waiting for God to physically appear like He did to Samuel to call you before you answer. Maybe to call you for the first time into His salvation. Maybe to call you back on to the straight and narrow.
Well, if you are waiting for the Word of YHWH to appear to call you, realize, He already did that once for all.
Long ago, at many times and in many ways God spoke to our brothers and sisters in Christ by the prophets. But in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son who came and took on flesh to appear to us.
And He has made very clear what God wants from us. And if we have ears to hear Him today - to hear Him calling us - then we need to respond - maybe for the first time, maybe just to come back to Him with our whole heart.
Because we see the heart of man in the history of God’s redemption. Look at Israel. They messed up - a lot! Are we any different?
They liked to go their own way. Are we any different?
But every time they repented and answered God’s call - every time they would acknowledge that their way was not better than God’s way, He saved them. He restored them.
And we are no different.
And here is the grace of our Lord - we see it today with Samuel. God doesn’t call once and then forget about you because you didn’t respond.
God calls us over and over and over again until we answer. Even when we don’t yet know Him - He calls us to Him.
And when we answer, Christ reveals Himself to us. And we see God for Who He is. And the only response is to honor and serve Him as He calls us to.
That is how our faith and our faithfulness grow.
God is calling.
Today is the day to answer the call. Because as we will see in the next chapter, there comes a time that it is too late. Not a time that God stops calling, but a time that we are no longer able to answer the call.
And when we come to that point, what good was our own way?
Brothers and sisters, whether you have known Christ for a few minutes or many decades, He is calling us this morning. He is calling us to Himself. To draw close to Him.
God is calling.
Are we listening?
God is calling.
Will we respond and do what He calls us to do and be what He calls us to be, or will we say to Him, “Do whatever you want.”
God is calling.
Will we answer Him, “your servant hears, Lord, speak”, or will we go our own way?
God is calling.
How will we respond?