In 1999 Tracy Lawrence wrote a song with a couple of guys called “Lessons Learned.” The first verse talks about a young boy stealing some candy and his dad giving him a spanking for it. The second verse shares about the boy playing catch and learning to drive with his grandfather; but the boy laments that he didn’t listen to the wisdom his grandfather gave and then the man passed away.
The chorus that ties it all together reads,
Lessons learned, man they sure run deep
They don't go away and they don't come cheap
Oh theres no way around it
Cause this world turns on lessons learned.
We all learn some hard lessons in our lives. Mostly out of our own foolishness, but one of the reasons the Scriptures were given to us, is so that we can learn lessons through others people’s lives, that way we can avoid the downside of learning the lessons through our foolishness.
So let’s learn a few lessons today as we come back to our series in the books of Samuel, where we’ll be picking it back up in the first verse of the third chapter in First Samuel. As we open to First Samuel 3:1, let’s take a quick look at where we are in the series.
In our first week we talked about the books of Samuel show the narrowing of God’s work in bringing about his redemption to the whole world. This is kicked off by Hannah’s heartfelt desire for a son, which aligned with God’s will in redemption. In this we saw how God calls us to have our desires conform to his will. When this happens, we begin to see the work of God explode in our lives.
Last week, we then looked at Eli’s sons who were abusing their spiritual offices by taking more from the people than was allotted to them, and also taking advantage of women who came to worship God. Due to their sin, God had spoken through a prophet that he was judging them. This reminded us that we are to only look at human leaders as supplements to Jesus who is our first in everything. If we had no one else, Jesus would be enough. When Jesus is in his rightful place in our lives, we can then see and expose leaders who cause spiritual abuse.
With these things refreshed in our minds, we can move on to our passage in First Samuel 3:1. Let’s read together.
1 Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision. 2 At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place. 3 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 Then the Lord called Samuel, and he said, “Here I am!” 5 and 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 And the Lord called again, “Samuel!” and Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.
8 And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10 And the Lord came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.” 11 Then the Lord said to Samuel, “Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. 12 On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. 13 And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. 14 Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.”
15 Samuel lay until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. 16 But Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son.” And he said, “Here I am.” 17 And Eli said, “What was it that he told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also if you hide anything from me of all that he told you.” 18 So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. And he said, “It is the Lord. Let him do what seems good to him.”
19 And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. 20 And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the Lord. 21 And the Lord appeared again at Shiloh, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord.
v.1 - The passage begins by telling us that Samuel was ministering, or serving God under the guidance of Eli. However, it is made clear that people were not hearing directly from God in this time. So the prophet that came to Eli in the last chapter was a rare occurrence, and could be why their name was not recorded; it might have been their only time prophesying.
But why was God’s speaking rare in those days? Could it be due to Israel’s rebellion in the latter part of Judges? Could it be the sin of the people as seen through the Judges themselves, and especially Samson? For whatever reason, God had not been speaking and so, to hear from him was a a true event. And yet, God hadn’t stop speaking, as can be seen in the unnamed prophet. So God wasn’t done with Israel, but kept silent for his own purposes.
v.2-9 - This leads us into God speaking. We’re given the time and the location of God’s communication with Samuel. It’s sometime before dawn, because the lamp in the tabernacle was still burning. Samuel is sleeping close to the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant was housed.
Then we’re given a little insight into Samuel’s spiritual state. We’re told that at this point in Samuel’s life he doesn’t know the Lord yet. It’s interesting that the same language is used of Eli’s sons in chapter 2. Both the sons, and Samuel do not know, or have an intimate relationship with God. However, Eli’s sons, who should know God, were rebelling against him purposefully, whereas Samuel was still young. How young? Some commenters believe he is about twelve, which is the time of manhood in Jewish tradition. Due to youth, Samuel is still innocent in knowing God because he has not yet learned about him. He had not yet encountered God’s word. And so the difference between the sons not knowing God and Samuel, is that former had access to the knowledge of God and was responsible for that knowledge, while the latter was just now coming into his own. But after this morning, everything changes.
In God’s calling, we get a three-fold repetition which connects to the idea of God’s completeness. In other words, this is truly a divine calling. The call is similar to that of Moses who is called to the burning bush. However, this calling is quieter. Whereas the bush is an overwhelming marvel, this is the still small voice that Elijah experiences on the mountain in First Kings 19.
In response to the calling, Samuel instinctively goes to Eli, because, who could be calling Samuel at this hour? It must be Eli. But Eli wasn’t the caller, and after the third time this happens, Eli realizes that God is calling out to Samuel, and the mentor instructs the young man to respond humbly as a servant.
v.10-18 When the third call comes, Samuel does as Eli instructs and then we read a curious statement, “And the Lord came and stood …” Is this a theophany? Is Samuel seeing a being before him, or is it a presence that is so tangible that Samuel feels it? It’s not clear, but what is clear is the message God has for Samuel.
Samuel is told of the judgment of God upon Eli’s sons, which is going to be soon. This first encounter with God is not a calling of hope, but a word of despair. And what is Samuel’s response? To spend the rest of the time laying in his bed until it’s morning. Why? Because Samuel was afraid of what God had said to him, because it was judgment against his guardian and mentor Eli, and Eli’s sons.
But Eli wanted to hear what God had said, and though Samuel was reluctant, needing a little harsh word from Eli to share, Samuel did tell him. It is here that we again see, that even though Eli had his faults in turning a blind eye to his sons’ evil deeds, he was still accepting of God’s will.
v.19-21 - The chapter closes with us being told for a third time in two chapters, that Samuel was growing, except this time, all Israel took notice that God was with him. The chapter begins with God speaking being a rare event, and it ends with God’s word being known through a new prophet, Samuel.
There are a few of lessons to glean from this portion of Scripture, and each lesson could be its own sermon.
The first half of the passage focuses on listening for God. We need to be listening for God to speak. Even if we have never heard him, even if it seems rare, we need to have our ears open to it. How can we do this? By doing what we know he already wants. We don’t need to know the intricacies of the doctrine of the Trinity, or a clear picture of how the full divine presence of God the Son combines with the fully human experience producing the God-man Jesus. If we know we are to love God and love others as ourselves, we already have a full life of duties to engage in. So let us be about those things that God has already called us to, with the expectation of more from him in the future.
We see this in Samuel’s life, he was growing in God’s presence even before he heard from God. How was that possible? Because he was honoring both his parents and his guardian by performing service to God in the tabernacle.
Another lesson is that we need mentors in our lives who can direct us when we don’t know what’s going on. Samuel didn’t know what God’s voice was like, but Eli did. So Eli, though he wasn’t perfect and he himself was under judgment, was able to direct his mentee to what a proper response to God’s call was like. We need mentor’s in our lives that can direct us into the deeper things of the faith, because they have walked there themselves.
Does that mean we look to them instead of God? No! It means we take their advice and incorporate it in our pursuit of Jesus. Even in someone’s failings, we can still be directed to God, we just have to be on our guard that we are seeking God and not them.
A third lesson we can glean from this, is that God doesn’t always give messages of hope, sometimes the message is one of judgment. We all want good news, but sometimes we can’t avoid the bad. When it comes to God getting us back to him, sometimes we have to hear the hard truths.
This would be a failing later on in history when prophets would show up speaking all sorts of good things, but giving out false hope. In Jeremiah 23:16 we’re told, “Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.’”
Paul would warn against this in Second Timothy 4:3, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.”
Say what you will about Eli, he took the bad news and trusted in the will of God. If we’re doing something bad, we need to be willing to hear it. We need to be willing to be corrected, so that we may grow in our relationship with God. As Proverbs 27:6 states, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.”
If we are going to grow in our relationship with Jesus, there will be many, many times when we have to be corrected. In order to see the greater work of God, we must be accepting of that correction. Not one of us has made it to being fully conformed to the image of Jesus, so until that time, we all have things that God is working on and we need to be mindful of that.
A final lesson we can glean from this passages is from Samuel at the end. He was afraid to give the bad news; it kept him up for the rest of the night. It’s hard enough to hear bad news, but it’s also hard to share that bad news with a friend.
Too often I have had to be the one to share bad news with people, only for them to fly off the handle and never speak to me again. This happened within the first few months after I came to Quartzsite. We had a teen in the youth group that was a part of our leadership team. One day in the van, as we were picking up teens, she was gossiping and bashing another teenager. When we arrived at the church, I told her that as a Christian, and especially as a leader, that was unacceptable. Maybe it was the way I said it, not enough grace perhaps, but she never came back to the youth group or the church. I have only seen her at a distance, and we have never talked.
It hurts, but it wouldn’t be the last time. In fact, I have to speak to someone this week about something they are doing that is not in keeping with the clear teaching of the Scriptures, and I’ve been praying it goes well. I never want to share bad news, but sometimes we have to and let God work in the shattered pieces that happens from it.
In this one chapter, we can see at least four lessons that we can learn. My challenge for you this week is to seek the Holy Spirit in which of these four lessons he wants you to work on. Do you need to work on listening God? Do you need mentors or fellows believers to help point you to the deeper things of God? Do you need to be accepting of bad news and correction? Do you need courage to speak bad news to someone?
Seek the Holy Spirit to reveal which of these four lessons he wants to work in you this week, as he brings you closer to the image of Jesus.
Let us be a people who do not merely hear the words of Scripture, but work them out in our lives to the glory of God. Amen.
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