Good Monday to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Have you been amazed that God is often working simultaneously with different people in different parts of our world, as God works to accomplish His amazing purposes? Even at this very moment I’m confident we would be overwhelmed if somehow God would give us a glimpse of all He is working on with millions of people, maybe even with you and me, to accomplish His global purposes in 2025!
Many Bible scholars believe the conclusion of the amazing story of Ruth, which we looked at this weekend, was happening simultaneously with God’s miraculous work with another Jewish woman named Hannah, in another part of Israel, and we find her story on the next page in your Bible, 1 Samuel 1. Hannah is another childless woman of great faith who refused to allow her biological barrenness to prevent her from a great faith relationship with God or God involving her in His Grand Narrative story!
As we read 1 Samuel 1 today, we’ll see prayerful Hannah taking her prayer to a deeper level of great faith as she made a vow to God that if He would bless her with a son, she’d consecrate that son to God’s service all of his life. (1 Samuel 1:11)
Hannah’s courageous faith challenges me to ask: ‘how do you and I measure the depth of our faith in God’? And Hanna’s sacrificial vow to God regarding a hoped-for son, challenges me to ask: ‘what self-sacrifice have I made or even offered to God in my willingness to be used by God as He accomplishes His great purposes’?
God’s response to Hannah’s great faith and courageous vow is none other than the miracle son Samuel. The record says: “So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel saying, ‘because I asked the LORD for him.” (1 Samuel 1:20) While we celebrate with Hannah, we also must realize it was now, with Samuel’s birth, that Hannah’s faith was most greatly tested. Would she stand by her vow to God, consecrating her son to God’s service, and if so, how?
Her answer, of course, was YES! Hannah carefully cared for her infant son until he was weaned, which at that time and in that culture was probably about age 4 or 5. Undoubtedly Hannah had many times told her little son the story of his miraculous birth and her vow to God, preparing him for what we find in chapter 2 of 1 Samuel, which was Hannah bringing Samuel to live at the sacred “Tent of Meeting” in Shiloh, under the mentorship of Eli the High Priest. Does that sound outrageous to you, my friends?
Did you know many missionary families have been doing this for generations, as they have left their children with family or in boarding schools while they answered God’s call to live in remote locations bringing the Gospel of Jesus to people who have never heard of Jesus in places where there are no schools or those places are extremely dangerous for children? I know many adults who grew up as children in those situations. In fact, my daughter and husband are at this moment serving as house parents to 18 such young boys, who like Samuel have been entrusted to them by their parents who serve Jesus in remote places. It is a profound sacrifice! Do you and I have the strength of trust in God this great sacrifice requires?
What Hannah did not know was that Eli’s family was greatly dysfunctional. His two sons, both serving as priests in God’s Tabernacle, were wicked men, doing wicked things, even in their priestly duties. (1 Samuel 2:12-17) Somehow God protected little Samuel from the wicked influence of these older men, and I see no evidence Samuel complained to his mother during her annual visits. (1 Samuel 2:18-21) Amazingly God blessed Hannah greatly with a large family of 3 more sons and 2 daughters! (1 Samuel 2:21)
While Eli’s wicked sons disregarded their father Eli’s rebuke of their evil behavior, God took notice and prepared His judgment for them, while God continued to protect and nurture young Samuel’s spiritually hungry heart. Do you and I understand how significant the young formative years are for children in shaping their moral and spiritual character and courage? How are we actively investing in that with our children and grandchildren and their young generations? Do we understand the moral and spiritual war that is raging for control of young minds and hearts all around us?
Into that moral and spiritual warfare happening at Shiloh of all places with Eli’s family, God sent a ‘man of God’ with a powerful, confrontational warning for Eli and his wicked sons, as recorded in 1 Samuel 2:27-36. The message shook Eli to his core and could not have been more frightening for it predicted both Eli’s death and that of his two wicked sons, all on the same day! Furthermore, God promised: “I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who will do according to what is in My heart and mind…” (1 Samuel 2:35) God would neither allow wicked spiritual leadership to abuse His people nor leave His people without God honoring leadership! And Samuel was being prepared by God for this critical moment in Israel’s history. Pause: No matter where you are in the world, is God doing a refining leadership work and can you see whom God might be preparing and raising up, and is God involving you in that process in your family or church or city?
Of all the great God calling stories of all time, I wonder if 1 Samuel 3 and God’s call to young Samuel, is one of the best? I love it, don’t you? Read it slowly and carefully today friends and put yourself in that story. Notice where little Samuel was laying down for the night… “…in the house of the LORD where the ark of God was.” (1 Samuel 3:3) What does that tell you about young Samuel’s heart for God and his desire to be close to God? Did Moses and Joshua and Caleb have the same heart? I wonder if the words of guidance Eli gave Samuel may have guided Samuel for the rest of his life. “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.” (1 Samuel 3:8) Have you ever said that to God? If so, how has God answered your willingness to listen to God? That, my friends, is one of the most important things we can teach our kids and grandkids in nurturing their relationship with God and their ability to turn a deaf ear to the world that wants to draw them away from God!
The message God gave Samuel that night was dreadful news for Eli and his sons, for judgement was soon to fall upon them. God’s patience with them had run out! That’s a dangerous place to be in life, isn’t it? At the same time, God continued his nurturing of young Samuel, preparing him for his soon approaching leadership role. God described those days with these words: “The LORD was with Samuel as he grew up…And all Israel, from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the LORD. The LORD continued to appear at Shiloh and there God revealed Himself to Samuel through His Word.” (1 Samuel 3:19-21) Do you see it my friends? Do you see HOW God was preparing Samuel for a time in Israel’s history which would need a man like Moses or Joshua? Do you see God’s Presence and His speaking to Samuel through God’s Word? We must never allow our appetite for God’s Word to wane or never allow our hearts to be fascinated by those people or things which draw us away from God. What safeguards do you and I have in place and are they working?
As always some really great and challenging notes are available in the Grand Narrative link below and let’s join young Samuel in this worship song that fits perfectly with what he was facing! Our world is so very similar to his, and I’ll meet you here again tomorrow.
Today’s Scripture: 1 Samuel 1-3.
Choose below to read or listen.
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1 Samuel 2
1 Samuel 3
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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