1 Sam. 3-5; Ps.77; 2 Cor. 8

1 Now the boy Samuel ministered to the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation. 2 And it came to pass at that time, while Eli was lying down in his place, and when his eyes had begun to grow so dim that he could not see, 3 and before the lamp of God went out in the tabernacle of the LORD where the ark of God was, and while Samuel was lying down, 4 that the LORD called Samuel. And he answered, “Here I am!” 5 So he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” And he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” And he went and lay down. 6 Then the LORD called yet again, “Samuel!” So Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” He answered, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” 7 (Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, nor was the word of the LORD yet revealed to him.)

One of the saddest statements in the Bible. “The word of the LORD was rare in those days;” The question is, was God not speaking or were people not listening? When men stop listening God stops speaking. Eli was the High Priest in those days. If anyone needed to hear from God it was Eli. But it had been years since Eli heard God speak. How does someone like Eli go from being hailed the man of God to a man who ignores God? The answer is one day at a time. It starts with small rejections of what he knew was the voice of God. Maybe it was that little twinge in his spirit that said you need to honor God in you house hold. Maybe when his teenage son used irreverent speech or acted disrespectful at Temple worship that Eli let it go. Time after time God would say something that Eli didn’t want to do so he just ignored it. Eventually Eli could only remember when God spoke to him. But God doesn’t stop speaking he just finds someone else who will listen. If Eli won’t listen God will find a Samuel who will. I don’t think Eli could ever get past the point where God would refuse forever to speak to him, Eli just needed to make the decision that hearing from God was the most important thing he could do and choose to say yes before God told him the what. Let’s get the wax out of our spiritual ears today and listen to the loving voice of our heavenly Father.

Pastor Rick