#DailyDevotion The LORD Will Not Keep Silent
1 Samuel 3:1–10 The boy Samuel was serving the LORD under Eli. The LORD rarely spoke in those days; a vision didn’t happen often… 3God’s lamp hadn’t gone out yet, and Samuel was asleep in the house of the LORD where God’s ark was kept. 4Then the LORD called Samuel. “Here I am,” he answered. 5He ran to Eli. “Here I am,” he said. “You called me.” “I didn’t call you,” he answered. “Lie down again.” So he went and lay down… 7Samuel didn’t know the LORD in this way yet, because God hadn’t spoken to him yet. 8The LORD called Samuel a third time. He got up and went to Eli. “Here I am,” he said. “You did call me.” Then Eli realized the LORD was calling the boy. 9“Go, lie down,” Eli told Samuel. “And now when you’re called, say, ‘Speak, LORD, Your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down at his place. 10The LORD came and stood there and called as He did before: “Samuel! Samuel!” So Samuel answered, “Speak, Your servant is listening.”
We often want to see miracles. We want to hear the voice of the Almighty. It seems sometimes miracles were happening all the time in the Bible. Yet, if you ever charted the times miracles happened in the Bible you would see there were few and far apart. Even the prophetic voice was often quiet. The LORD had given his people his Word through the Prophet Moses. They were to listen to him and talk about the word he had given.Well the Word of God had not been involved in the prophetic means for a while in Samuel’s day. But truly, that was par for the course. They had God’s Word. Yet, it seems, God’s priest was up to doing his duty. The boy Samuel helped him out with his duties in the tabernacle. In this reading we see the fascinating call of the prophet Samuel. I wonder if this is something the prophet John the Baptist experienced himself.
Samuel was born to a barren mother. His mother was one of two wives. The other wife had given their husband a number of children but Hannah was barren and was teased a lot by the other wife. You see, it was seen as a curse not being able to have children then. Children were seen as a blessing from God. Well Hannah prayed to the LORD and the LORD remembered her and gave her Samuel. Samuel’s mother, once Samuel was weaned, dedicated Samuel to the LORD’s house. John the Baptist’s mother was also barren. The LORD appeared to his father who told him they would have a child who would be a prophet. Much like Jesus, we don’t know a whole lot about John’s early childhood. I wonder if Elizabeth dedicated John to the LORD. Well that’s speculation. We don’t know when John got his calling or how it happened but at some point John received a call from the LORD as Samuel received a call from the LORD.
As John was the forerunner of Jesus, so Samuel was the forerunner of Jesus’ ancestor David. They both prepared the way for the LORD’s anointed. Some may think God’s Word has been silent the last 2,000 years but it has not been. The LORD continues to call men into the ministry to proclaim Jesus as the Christ. Their calls are not like Samuel’s. They have some inkling the LORD wants them to be a pastor. But they never know for sure until the Church calls them to be a pastor. But when the voice of the Bride calls them, they can be certain it is the LORD’s calling. They become heralds of the LORD Jesus Christ just like Samuel and John. Thanks be to God our LORD doesn’t keep silent but speaks through them.
Heavenly Father, you sent heralds to prepare the way for David and for Jesus. Continually send us your heralds so the way for your Son Jesus Christ may be prepared in our hearts to receive him as LORD and Savior. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.