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“Meanwhile, the boy Samuel served the Lord by assisting Eli. Now in those days messages from the Lord were very uncommon and visions were quite uncommon.” (1 Samuel 3:1, NLT).
Insight
Messages and visions from the Lord were uncommon. WHY? One reason could be that the Lord simply didn’t share them. If He doesn’t send them, we will not get them. But another reason messages and visions were might have been uncommon is because people simply didn’t discern them. So maybe God was speaking and He simply was not heard.
If God spoke and if anyone should have heard… it would have been Eli, the high priest. However, when God did speak (3:3 – 9) it took Eli three times before he realized God was talking. Not to be too hard on Eli, but could he and his son’s disrespect of God, dishonor of the office and contemptuous dealings have lead to a spiritual deftness and blindness? And could his example have spread in epidemic proportions throughout the land?
On the other hand, I find it interesting that Samuel was described as one who “served the Lord” (3:1). Perhaps young Samuel was yet unstained by the self-centered world-view of those around him. Maybe God had found a man who could hear and see. Did Samuel position himself to hear from God? And chapter 3 ends saying, “The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh and gave messages to Samuel there at the Tabernacle” (3:21).
The Tabernacle is the dwelling place of God and Paul tells us we are the Tabernacle (temple) of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6). God speaks and will reveal Himself to you. So, let’s purify ourselves from worldly selfishness and embrace a lifestyle of service before God. Let’s posture ourselves to hear and see. Let us pray, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening” (3:10).
Prayer
Father, speak to me. Reveal Yourself to me. Purify me from selfish pollutants which make me deft and blind to You. Dwell in me by Your Spirit so I may see and hear. In Jesus name, AMEN.
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Perhaps Eli and son's were fortunate that God didn't speak much...Perhaps it was an act of Mercy on his part that He withheld comment and gave them an opportunity to turn from their wicked ways...which they didn't do. And, if any verse in that chapter should send chills down one's spine it would be verse 25...."But they (Eli's sons) would listen to him (Eli) for the Lord DESIRED TO PUT THEM TO DEATH."
ReplyDeletePraise God that I don't have to live under the Law. Praise God for the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ. Praise God for His Holy Spirit that "tabernacles" within me to guide me into all truth and away from evil...Can you imagine being known throughout history as the ones that God desired to put to death...Whew!!
Todd, this is incredible. Hearing God's voice, discerning His will, and letting Him guide our footsteps are not easy things to do. Yet we see from Samuel that it is not as complicated as we might think. The more I study and seek after the Lord, the more He reveals Himself to me. It is my observation that a lot of people (myself included) don't hear or see God's will for them because they don't want to... The Bible says "he who has, will be given more, and he who has little, even what he has will be taken". With much power comes much responsibility. Over the past month I've desperately been asking God to show me His will for my life. He's begun to reveal bits and pieces and it scares me to death to be quite honest. I can see now that unconsciously maybe, we deny God's guidance because we inherently know that it will force us out of our comfort zones and convict us to act boldly and righteously. So instead, we feel validated by reading the Bible, going to church, attending a small group, and serving the community a couple times a year. But like we discussed through the Power of Passion series, God wants to do EXTRAORDINARY things through our lives. I believe we're not born to be soldiers who march to the orders of men, but generals carrying out orders from God.
ReplyDeletePastor Todd,
ReplyDeleteI believe this is what God would have me improve on during this study. Get rid of the distractions and make myself available for God to hear his voice. Truly Samuel was unscathed by wordly things at the point where God spoke to him. The bible says that he did not yet know the Lord, although he had been dedicated to the Lord and worshipped Him as soon as his mother left him with Eli. What this means is that he had not heard the Lord personally. How many of us are in that boat? I do believe I have heard from the Lord, however, He may be trying to speak to me now. Thus, I will work to make myself available.
I totally believe in what everyone is saying about this message,also i think that it is true that we sometimes do not hear Gods voice cause we are not listening when he speaks to us cause we do not see, sometimes we are used to our comfort zone and not trusting our faith to be able to hear from God , we rather stay in a the place we are in cause we are used to it and even though it may be chaotic we are used to it and we know what it is , so fear of sttepping out on faith wil sometimes disconnect us from hearing Gods voice. Like samuel God was speaking to him and he did not even know it ,and that sometimes happens to us where God may be speaking to us and we dont even know it. I believe that this is a powerful message because when samuel was disconnected from wordly things ,he made himself avialible to be connected to God thus hearing his voice.
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