1 Samuel 3
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REVIEW OF LAST WEEK
we looked at the contrast between Samuel and his family and the priesthood
we saw all the awful things the priests were doing
stealing and eating the sacrificial meat
taking advantage of the women
eventually, the house of Eli was cursed by God that they would either die or become beggars
we also saw the Song of Hannah, how faithful and dedicated she was
the whole family was dedicated and was very much passionate for God
even Samuel, who was stuck around all these corrupt priests
and Samuel was raised up, as well as Hannah and the family
ultimately, we looked at the difference between the hearts of the preists and Samuel’s family, and how God reacted to both
1 And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was precious in those days; there was no open vision.
The young Samuel here continues in his dedication to God, even in a sinful environment
“Resist the devil, and he will flee from you”
when we are close to God and really put our heart into Him, He will help us and protect us and enable us to deal with these kinds of things around us
“turn to Him, and He will turn to you”
We see that the Word of God was precious, as in it was rare in that time, so the little bit they had here and there was precious
all the religious institutions were somewhat in shambles at the time, like the priesthood
additionally, there was no line of prophets, so you didn’t have one prophet who trained others, like Elijah and Elisha
we know that after Samuel the priesthood would become better, there starting to be much more prophecy, and there would be a king
this would later become the standard in the kingdom, the king, the priests, and the prophets
you would have the priestly system, who were taking care of the sacrifices
then you also had the kings, who were over the administration of the kingdom
and you would have the prophets, who delivered God’s Word to the people
in these first few chapters we’re seeing the beginnings of this whole system that would come into being, we have Samuel’s beginning here, along with God saying that He will correct the priest system, and we know that David is coming on the scene soon
2 And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see; 3 And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep;
What happens next is going to be one of the pivotal moments of Samuel’s life
4 That the Lord called Samuel: and he answered, Here am I.
5 And he ran unto Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he said, I called not; lie down again. And he went and lay down.
6 And the Lord called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And he answered, I called not, my son; lie down again.
7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him.
8 And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child.
9 Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10 And the Lord came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth.
One thing to talk about here is the fact that God comes looking for us
let’s think about it for a second, we see so many places in the Bible where God came to the person, the person did not come to God
Let’s think about a few, God called Moses at the burning bush
He called Gideon, who was completely surprised
He called Abraham
Here, He’s called Samuel
We can look at the prophets, He called Amos, for instance, who was just a farmer from the northern kingdom
looking at the new testament, we see during Jesus’ ministry He went around gathering His disciples, He came to earth and was spreading the Word about Himself
even after Christ left, He called Paul
and Paul, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, told us that
30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
God is calling out to all of us through His Word, through His Spirit, and through those who are preaching His gospel.
We know that God wants to be us to be reconciled to Him, to be at peace with Him, to be in a good relationship with Him
He wants this badly enough that He sent Christ to suffer, be tortured, and die for us
isn’t it incredible that God, the holy, the perfect, the most high would even care about us fallen humans?
it might be easy for us to not really think about how amazing this is
what a privilege it is to be waned by God, what an absolute blessing
what a privilege it is to be able to be heard by God
What a privilege it is to have Christ have died for us and to be called sons of God
When is the last time we thought of these things? How often do we think about these things?
not only should this thought be something that may convict us
but it’s also something that should bring us great joy
So God, calls out to us, He cries out to us through His Word and Spirit, but even creation calls out to us, really
The next thing to think about is: ARE WE LISTENING?
are we too busy with life? are we making time for God?
if you’re in a situation like this, it would be hard to hear God if He’s drowned out by all of the other things in your life
Maybe you’re in a spot where you’re forced to be busy just all day, nose to the grindstone from the moment wake up until you fall asleep in the your recliner
we can be in prayer in our hearts throughout the day, it’s about having the relationship with God and somehow making some time for Him
realistically, while most of us may be busy, most aren’t quite that busy
there comes a point where we have to take account for our priorities
it’s only right to use some time out of our day to dedicate to God, to be open to Him, to study His Word
so much it’s in these times when God really speaks to us, or opens up His Word to us
I mean as believers, this seems like something fundamental.
if we are people of the Book, we should be students of the book, we shouldn’t let the book get dusty
we should be wanting to know God, and to know God, we have to be open to hearing Him, and to hear Him, we need to dedicate some time to Him in some way
One thing is being too busy to hear God, which is bad enough
it’s another thing to just have our heart not be open to hearing Him, to let our hearts become hardened
often times, we will not make time for God because of various fleshly reasons
maybe we say we don’t feel like it, we’ll get to it later, we just put it off for whatever reason
once we start giving into the flesh, the evils of this world see an opening, there are evil spiritual forces in this world, and we can see examples of that throughout Scripture
earlier we looked at a verse that said if we resist the devil he will flee from us
well, if we give in to the flesh and the devil, he will keep coming for us
once we start giving in and giving in and giving in, then it starts to become a habit
we start living according to the flesh every day, forgoing prayers or reading Scripture or any time with God
if this becomes the case, we are straying further and further from God
that voice in us telling us to pray or read the Bible or make time for God is diminished
this is our heart hardening, becoming resistant to the Spirit, to God
if we wind up in this state, how are we ever going to hear God?
if we don’t make time for Him AND we essentially just don’t want to, it’s as if we’re pushing Him away
imagine pushing such a caring God away
maybe when you hear about it like this, it sounds crazy, “how could anyone push God away or not want to spend time getting closer to Him?
but we’ve all done it at some point, we’ve all been further from God than we’ve wanted to be at one point or another
let us truly value our relationship with God, let’s spend time with Him so that we can get to know His greatness even better
and the more we know Him and the closer we get to Him, the more we are open to hearing His voice
whether it’s being called for some sort of ministry, to do something for someone, or whatever it may be
let’s continue the chapter...
11 And the Lord said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle.
12 In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house: when I begin, I will also make an end.
13 For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not.
14 And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever.
15 And Samuel lay until the morning, and opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And Samuel feared to shew Eli the vision.
16 Then Eli called Samuel, and said, Samuel, my son. And he answered, Here am I.
17 And he said, What is the thing that the Lord hath said unto thee? I pray thee hide it not from me: God do so to thee, and more also, if thou hide any thing from me of all the things that he said unto thee.
18 And Samuel told him every whit, and hid nothing from him. And he said, It is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good.
God told Samuel about the judgement that will soon be coming to Eli and his house for disrespecting the priesthood
In v.13 it says that Eli didn’t restrain his sons, who were doing all these bad things as priests
We even saw in the last chapter how God how a “man of God” told Eli that he and his sons would be judged
and from that time until now, Eli had apparently not restrained his sons
We see exactly how Eli responded to God here, he was the high priest at the time, and even after hearing a message from God, HE DID NOT RESPOND
Therefore, God told Samuel what the punishment would be and Samuel delivered it to Eli
When a loving, caring, most high God is calling you, and you just blow it off like Eli did, you will be in for judgement
and those who ignore God’s call for repentance through Christ will receive judgement as well
The Old Testament talks about fearing God.
this element seems to be missing a lot in todays world
they had such respect, such reverence, such faith in His power, that they had a reverent fear for Him
we need to have that kind of faith, that kind of respect
we don’t be want to be like Eli, who when God pronounced judgement on him and his family in chapter 2, seemingly did nothing and had no reaction
we want to be sensitive to God’s voice and to God’s call, and certainly when we hear it, be willing to act upon it.
let’s continue the chapter see what happened with Samuel after this
19 And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground.
20 And all Israel from Dan even to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord.
21 And the Lord appeared again in Shiloh: for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord.
“none of his words fall to the ground” - this is saying that when God would give Samuel prophecy, that they always came true
and God is like that, all of His Words come true
“from Dan to beer-sheba” Dan was way up north and beer-sheba was toward the south of israel
essentially saying that sameul became known throughout all of Israel for being a prophet, or a seer as he’s sometimes called
the last verse is putting a bow on this whole origin story of Samuel, saying that essentially, “Hey, the Lord is with us speaking through a prophet in Shiloh”
We can see in these last few verses how Samuel reacted to God’s call
We see that he was faithful to God, going along with the call
and God raised him up due to this, to the point where all Israel knew
Samuel was close to God, and listened to His call, and we see that God was there for Him in v19
if we turn to Him, He turns to us, and He is already calling to us, we just need to listen.
Compare this with the judgement that was pronounced on Eli and his sons, which we will see play out in the next chapter
Are we listening? If so, how are we responding?
