July 29 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

1 Samuel 3:1-21

¹And the child Samuel ministered unto the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was precious in those days; there was no open vision.
²And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see;
³And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep;
⁴That the LORD called Samuel: and he answered, Here am I.
⁵And he ran unto Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he said, I called not; lie down again. And he went and lay down.
⁶And the LORD called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And he answered, I called not, my son; lie down again.
⁷Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, neither was the word of the LORD yet revealed unto him.
⁸And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived that the LORD had called the child.
⁹Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, LORD; for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
¹⁰And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth.
¹¹And the LORD said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle.
¹²In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house: when I begin, I will also make an end.
¹³For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not.
¹⁴And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever.
¹⁵And Samuel lay until the morning, and opened the doors of the house of the LORD. And Samuel feared to shew Eli the vision.
¹⁶Then Eli called Samuel, and said, Samuel, my son. And he answered, Here am I.
¹⁷And he said, What is the thing that the LORD hath said unto thee? I pray thee hide it not from me: God do so to thee, and more also, if thou hide any thing from me of all the things that he said unto thee.
¹⁸And Samuel told him every whit, and hid nothing from him. And he said, It is the LORD: let him do what seemeth him good.
¹⁹And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground.
²⁰And all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the LORD.
²¹And the LORD appeared again in Shiloh: for the LORD revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the LORD.

Devotional

God did not often come in a personal way to speak to men in Samuel's days. His word was 'precious' and there was no 'open vision' (3:1). Nor was there, either, a Bible for sale at the Supermarket.

And the young Samuel had no previous experience of being addressed by God. But the Lord did speak to him. This is beautiful. God does speak, to men. There is no age barrier on His part, either. Or sex barrier! He speaks to children as well as to adults. We should emphasize this to our children and the children of others as we tell them this story.

The other thing we must emphasize is the need of receptivity. Samuel's training and devotion had prepared him for a confrontation with God. At Eli's prompting he readily responded, 'Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth' (3:9).

In our day God speaks to us through the Bible. First, are we listening? Do we even know what He is saying? And then, does it sink in? Are we receptive? Do we really hear? Do we heed?

Samuel did hear and he did heed. He 'feared to show Eli the vision' (3:15). But he did. He told the priest the whole horrible thing. Samuel was to continue to speak that way from God to the people all of his life, even to warning King Saul about the bleating of sheep and the lowing of oxen (15:14)!

And God was with him and 'let none of his words fall to the ground' (3:19). God prospered his ministry.

Hannah's prayers, we may believe, were following him up to the day of her death!