An Attentive Ear (1 Samuel 3:1-9)

4/18/2010 8:21 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DAIRY

 

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  An attentive ear

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                        Reference:  1 Samuel 3:1-9

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 ¶  Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD before Eli. And word from the LORD was rare in those days, visions were infrequent. 2  It happened at that time as Eli was lying down in his place (now his eyesight had begun to grow dim and he could not see well), 3  and the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD where the ark of God was, 4  that the LORD called Samuel; and he said, "Here I am." 5  Then he ran to Eli and said, "Here I am, for you called me." But he said, "I did not call, lie down again." So he went and lay down. 6  The LORD called yet again, "Samuel!" So Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, "Here I am, for you called me." But he answered, "I did not call, my son, lie down again." 7  Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, nor had the word of the LORD yet been revealed to him. 8  So the LORD called Samuel again for the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, "Here I am, for you called me." Then Eli discerned that the LORD was calling the boy. 9  And Eli said to Samuel, "Go lie down, and it shall be if He calls you, that you shall say, ’Speak, LORD, for Your servant is listening.’" So Samuel went and lay down in his place.”

            There are a couple of things in this section that I want to write on, and the first is in verse seven where it says that Samuel did not know the Lord.  This could be like Saul of Tarsus with the exception that the Lord came to him in the day time and He came to Samuel at night.  Samuel came to know the Lord that evening just as Saul came to know the Lord that day.

            Eli’s eyes were very bad and this goes along with verse one where it says that the Word of the Lord was rare in those days.  Israel’s spirituality was a dark as Eli’s eyes. 

            The Law states that the light in the tabernacle should never go out, yet it says in verse three that the lamp of God had not yet gone out.  Perhaps they were letting the light go out in those days as it seems that they were doing many things wrong in those days that had to do with the Lord,  But I think that this statement can be looked at in another way in that God had not yet given up on the nation of Israel and He was about to do a work in this nation through a young man named Samuel.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Jesus Christ is the light of the world, and He is the Light in my life and I must never be like Eli and allow the light to grow dim so that I cannot discern where God is leading me.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1. Keep the light of the Lord burning in my heart by reading, confessing, listening to God’s Word, praying and trusting that the Lord will do what He desires to do in my life.

 

4/18/2010 8:49 AM