1 Samuel 3:1-21

1 Samuel 3:1-21

The Lord Calls Samuel

3 The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.

2 One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. 3 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. 4 Then the Lord called Samuel.

Samuel answered, “Here I am.” 5 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 lay down.

6 Again the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

“My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.”

7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.

8 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. 9 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 lay down in his place.

10 The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”

Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

11 And the Lord said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle. 12 At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family—from beginning to end. 13 For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons blasphemed God,[a] and he failed to restrain them. 14 Therefore I swore to the house of Eli, ‘The guilt of Eli’s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.’”

15 Samuel lay down until morning and then opened the doors of the house of the Lord. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision, 16 but Eli called him and said, “Samuel, my son.”

Samuel answered, “Here I am.”

17 “What was it he said to you?” Eli asked. “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.” 18 So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Then Eli said, “He is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes.”

19 The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground. 20 And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord. 21 The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word.

Taking Things for Granted

We take so many things for granted in life, don’t we? We don’t always appreciate the good things we have until they’re gone.

Think about it:

Health - Most people don’t truly value their health until they get sick or receive that terrifying diagnosis from a doctor.

Friendships - We don’t realize how much they mean to us until we move away and those connections fade.

Family - It’s easy to overlook how much they matter until we lose someone we love.

Jobs—people don’t appreciate them until they’re suddenly laid off.

Bible - And one of the biggest things we take for granted? God’s Word. We have the Bible right at our fingertips—on our phones, in our homes, at church—but imagine if one day, we couldn’t read it anymore. What if we couldn’t hear God’s voice?

That’s exactly what happened to Israel in the time of Amos. He gave them a chilling warning:

“‘The time is surely coming,’ says the Sovereign Lord, ‘when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread or water but of hearing the words of the Lord. People will stagger everywhere, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.’” – Amos 8:11-12

That’s a scary thought, right? No access to God’s Word? No messages of hope, wisdom, or guidance? What would we do if we no longer had God’s Word?

1. God's Silence (1 Samuel 3:1-10)

(slide)The book of 1 Samuel starts by saying that "the word of the Lord was rare in those days. " That’s a big deal. Why?

Because the priests—Hophni and Phinehas (Eli’s sons)—were corrupt. They were supposed to represent God, but instead, they disrespected Him and misled people. Since they weren’t listening to God, God stopped speaking through them.

But here’s where things get really interesting: God started speaking to a kid instead—Samuel.

At first, Samuel didn’t even recognize that it was God speaking to him. He thought it was Eli calling him.

Why didn’t Eli teach Samuel how to recognize God’s voice?

Had Eli gotten so used to God's silence that he stopped listening?

That thought is kind of scary, isn’t it? What if we get so used to ignoring God that we stop hearing Him altogether?

Communication is a wonderful gift that God has given us. It is the gift of communication that gives me the ability to speak to you today and I thank God for the gift. When someone is communicating with you all they're doing is causing you to think certain thoughts you would not otherwise be thinking that's communication.

But it is different with god. God is infinite, which means that God can guide your thoughts directly. But because of our human limitations and because of sin, it's possible for God to guide our thoughts and we might not know it is God who is doing it, or even worse, we might refuse to listen! Something like this was happening to samuel. He was hearing God speak but he didn't know it was God speaking.

Thinking through this situation with Samuel has made me think about God speaking to us. When we are trying to discern God's will, are we able to tell when it's God speaking to us? Can we hear god? The word of the Lord is active and is constantly speaking to us.

Connecting to the Confessions

Belgic Confession, Article 2 & 3:(slide) We know God through His creation and His Word, but when Israel rejected God’s Word, they lost the clearest way of knowing Him. The same thing happens today when we neglect Scripture.

Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 25: (slide)Faith comes from hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). Samuel grew in faith because he learned to recognize God’s voice. We need to do the same.

To help understand how God speaks to us I'm going to look at some myths that misguide people long ago like Samuel, hinder us from recognizing and listening to God speaking to us.

2. Myths About God’s Guidance(slide)

Samuel had to learn how to hear God’s voice, just like we do today. But sometimes, we buy into myths that stop us from really hearing Him. Let’s break some of those down.

(slide)Myth #1: "God Only Speaks to Spiritual Giants"

Do you Ever think that only spiritual giants—pastors, missionaries, or biblical prophets—hear from God? Wrong.

Eli was the spiritual giant in the story, but who did God speak to? Samuel, who was just a kid when God spoke to him.

When Samuel later went to anoint a new king, he assumed God would pick the strongest or oldest son of Jesse. But who did God choose? David—the youngest!

God spoke through young Timothy in the New Testament, too. Paul told him:

(slide)"Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young." – 1 Timothy 4:12

People didn’t think Paul was all that impressive, yes, he wrote powerful letters but when people saw him in person he wasn’t all that impressive or eloquent in speech. But God worked through him.

God speaks to all of us—no matter our age or status or appearance.

Confession Connection:

(slide)Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 1: We belong to Jesus, and He speaks to all His people—not just "spiritual giants." John 10:27: "My sheep hear my voice."

(slide)Myth #2: "God Will Make My Decisions For Me"

I wonder if this was a problem for Eli and his sons. They were priests and as we have seen didn't live in Godly ways and God was silent. I wonder if they thought to themselves that they were priests and then going through the Priestly motions that God would make their decisions for them, take care of them and everything would be okay.

I think some people have this kind of mentality and it lead them to treat God Like a Magic 8-Ball shaking it up and hoping for a direct answer:

"Should I take this job? Let me flip open my Bible and see what verse I land on!"

"Should I date this person? Let me pray and wait for a clear ‘yes’ or ‘no’ sign."

"Should I buy this car? God, give me a sign!"

I am not saying that we shouldn’t turn to God for guidance, but God isn’t a toy that spits out random answers. Instead, He gives us His Word as a guide, wisdom to discern right from wrong, and a community of believers to help us. God is the all wise parent and his goal in our lives is to grow us and help us to become the daughters and sons he wants us to be. What this means is that God won't make all our decisions for us. Yes, God is Sovereign. But he is growing us through the choices we make.

Eli and his sons seemed to assume that since they were priests, God would just take care of them no matter what. That’s not how it works. They made bad choices, and those choices had consequences.

(slide)Myth #3: "God's Will is a Trump Card"

Myth #3 is using God's will as a trump card to do what is wrong. Again, I Look to Eli's Wicked son for this idea. In first Samuel 2 it tells us that Eli's Sons had no regard for God's way and how God wanted his offerings treated. Eli's Sons also slept around with women with no God for God's holy ways with sexuality. I wonder if these boys use their positions as priests as a trump card to get what they wanted.

Did they say to the women we are priests and we can do whatever we want, God told us so?

Did they say in regard to the offering we can do with the offering whatever we want because God told us so.

When I think of someone using God’s word to justify their actions, I think of Jim Jones and the People’s Temple. Jones, a charismatic leader, claimed to have direct revelations from God and used that as a trump card to demand absolute loyalty from his followers. When people questioned his increasingly extreme and immoral actions, he silenced them by insisting that his decisions were divinely inspired. This ultimately led to the tragic Jonestown massacre in 1978, where over 900 people lost their lives.

His misuse of “God’s will” shows the danger of leaders who use divine authority as a shield against accountability, just like Eli’s sons did in their corruption. True godly leadership seeks wisdom, accountability, and alignment with Scripture, not unchecked power. God was in a sense checking the power that Eli and his sons shared, and told them because you abused my authority, you will no longer share in my authority, and my curses will fall upon your household.

(slide)Myth #4: "God’s Will Is a Private Matter"

This leads to the final myth, that God's will is a private matter. When God speaks to us one of the key ways of knowing whether God is speaking or not is by letting the community of God tell us.

The Lord spoke to Samuel and can you imagine the weight of the words upon Young samuel? This man that he has looked up to and his sons were going to die. When Eli heard from the lips of Samuel what God had said, he knew it was true because of what the man of God in Chapter 2 said to Eli. When Eli realized that this was God's word and God's will what was he to say? He says,” he is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes.” The point in all of this is that young Samuel didn't keep God's word to himself. He told Eli and these words agreed with what God had told Eli earlier.

This reminds me of the secrecy found in the Jehovah’s Witness organization. The Watchtower Society, which governs Jehovah’s Witnesses, claims to have exclusive access to God’s will and special revelation. They discourage members from seeking outside biblical interpretation or questioning leadership, insisting that truth is only found through their organization. This secrecy keeps people from testing what they’re taught against Scripture and from seeking confirmation in the broader Christian community.

But biblical truth is not meant to be hidden or controlled by a select group. When God speaks, His word is confirmed in the community of faith and aligns with Scripture. Samuel didn’t keep God’s message a secret—he shared it with Eli, and Eli recognized its truth because it matched what God had already revealed. In the same way, we are called to test what we hear against God’s Word and seek wisdom from a faithful community rather than relying on secretive claims of divine insight.

Confession Connection:

(slide)Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 21: "The communion of saints" means we belong to each other and help each other hear God.

3. God Still Speaks Today

We come to the end of chapter 3 of 1st Samuel and we read that God revealed himself to Samuel through his word. The chapter began with God's word being silent and the chapter ends with God's word again being heard. When God speaks, it's not some kind of mystical experience, in which the experience is what matters. When God speaks, what matters is what God says. God sent his word and his word would come true.

(slide)The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only, who came from the father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

God speaks to us today and God speaks to us through his son Jesus Christ through his word. Do you want to know how to discover God's will? The way you discover God's will for your life is by getting to know his word and his word is his son Jesus christ. The way you come to understand the will of God Is by making this book part of your life and letting it change your life.

Life Application:

(slide)“ In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.” Hebrews 1:1-2

Don’t wait for a “spiritual giant” to tell you what God is saying—open the Bible and hear from Him yourself.

Don’t assume God will make your choices for you—seek His wisdom and take responsibility.

Don’t twist God’s will to fit your own agenda—listen honestly.

And don’t try to do it alone—God calls us to seek His will together.

(slide)God still speaks. Are we listening?

Prayer