I Samuel 3

Lead, follow or get out of the way!

The Bible is full of men and women who are specially used of God for a unique purpose in His plan to redeem and raise up a Godly people – whether Israel in the OT or the church in the NT. Samuel was such a man. 2:18 says, “Now Samuel was ministering before the Lord, as a boy…”. God called Samuel at a young age and gave him a large measure of grace to love and serve God. This was at a time when the nation was in a spiritual drought. The high priest Eli was very old and his sons, the priests, were “worthless men; they did not know the Lord…” What’s worst is that Eli, tired and old, looked the other way and the spiritual state of the nation was in crisis. 3:1 says “Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord before Eli. And word from the Lord was rare in those days; visions were infrequent.” However, God was about to speak to Samuel. 3:10,11 says, “Then the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, ‘Samuel, Samuel’, and Samuel said, ‘speak, for your servant is listening.’ The Lord said to Samuel, ‘behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel, at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle…” Then God told Samuel He was going to judge Eli’s sons for their wickedness as priests. Samuel told Eli the gruesome news. It’s amazing that God used a boy to be His spokesperson to an old Priest. But it seems there was no one else at that time but young Samuel. 3:19 says, “Thus Samuel grew and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fail.” How blessed it is to be used by God for HIS purposes. We all like to see our “own dreams” come true – it’s human nature. But the blessedness of pursuing God’s plan and being right in the middle of His will for our personal ministry, well, that is the real blessing. Every day I need to be reflective and asking God “am I pursuing MY dreams or YOUR plans?” Sometimes it becomes cloudy. Lord, I Re-commitment to follow You above all else!