Know the Lord

‘Samuel did not yet know the Lord’

This line stopped me in my tracks this morning. Samuel had been serving diligently in God’s house. In fact that house was his home. Yet he did not yet know the Lord? How was this possible? ‘The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him’ (1 Samuel 3:7). It turns out that it wasn’t just Samuel who hadn’t heard the word of God.

Earlier in the chapter it is pointed out that ‘in those days the word of the Lord was rare’. Why? ‘There were not many visions’ (1 Samuel 3:1). In short, the word of the Lord was received through visions so without them, there was no word. And without the word, as Samuel demonstrates, the people did not know the Lord.

Reading through people’s resolutions for 2017, the desire for a deeper relationship with God came up. And praise God for that! Samuel’s story gives us the perfect way to achieve this deeper relationship.

He listened

Samuel may not have known God but he knew Eli and clearly honoured him. When Eli told him what to say the next time he had the voice calling him, Samuel was obedient. He listened to Eli, then he listened to God. I cannot imagine what must have been going through his head as God spoke. Especially since what God was saying was so ominous.

We are blessed enough to have the word of God at our fingertips what with the Bible apps available. It is up to us to settle down and ‘listen’ to that word by making time to read it. And as we read it, to listen to what God is saying.

He didn’t keep it to himself

What Samuel heard was not good news for the man who was like a father to him. No wonder he was hesitant about telling Eli what the Lord had told him. Goes to show that we won’t always hear what we want to hear from the word. But remember that no matter what we hear from the word, it is ‘useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness’ (2 Timothy 3:16). Because it is this important, we cannot afford to keep it to ourselves.

Samuel didn’t. Besides telling Eli what God had said to him, he let none of God’s words fall to the ground (1 Samuel 3: 19). He told all of Israel about it. God had already told Eli what He told Samuel. But Eli kept it to himself. I wonder if his family’s fate would have been different if he had told his sons about what God had said and called them to repentance.

Hearing God’s word from you may be exactly what someone else needs to hear, whether they like the message or not. Share it.

He kept at it

Samuel may not have had a Bible app complete with reminder about reading the word but he had come to know the voice of the Lord. He must have stayed sensitive to hearing it because God continued to reveal Himself to Samuel. Through His word.

Many of us have probably started a Bible plan to help us keep in the word all year round, which is a good thing. Let us also resolve to keep in the word not because it is a plan for the year but because through His word, God will reveal Himself to us, and become even more real to us. So let us keep at reading the word even when the phone blacks out and you cannot access your app. Get a hard copy that you can carry around. Read it because you cannot wait to hear what God is telling you. Take pleasure in it.

May this year bring that deeper relationship with God through His word. A blessed 2017.