Listen/Speak Radical Honesty

1 Samuel 2:31–32 ESV

31 Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your house. 32 Then in distress you will look with envious eye on all the prosperity that shall be bestowed on Israel, and there shall not be an old man in your house forever.

1 Samuel 3:11–14 ESV

11 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. 12 On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. 13 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. 14 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.”

1 Samuel 3:17–18 ESV

17 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.” 18 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.”

1. An element of _discernment_

1 Samuel 3:7 ESV

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

2. An element of _hesitation_

1 Samuel 3:15 ESV

15 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.

2. An element of hesitation

3. An element of _participation_

1 Samuel 3:19 ESV

19 And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground.