Scripture reading: Psalm 139: 1-17.

Sermon text: 1 Samuel 3:1-10.

Times were desperate. The nation suffered from oppression from foreign invaders who held military and technological advantages that no inspired leader could overcome. The political leadership, never very strong, had no response to the dilemma. Even worse, the religious leaders had lost all their moral authority in the eyes of the people. Most of the people despaired that God would ever hear their cries for help.

The events of today’s sermon passage occurred at the end of the period of the judges. The people had lost all respect for Eli and his sons, attending the festivals and sacrifices only out of obedience to God. The Philistines, refugees from the catastrophe that propelled the Mediterranean world into chaos, settled on the coast between Israel and the Mediterranean Sea and began conquering everyone around them. The people called for God to repeat His acts of deliverance, but many wondered whether God would ever restore them to independence and fulfill His promises to make them a mighty nation. In this bleak period, God finally visited His people, but by speaking to a young boy and calling him to lead the people to spiritual renewal.

Many people today look for God to work in our lives to restore our nation, but unfortunately, most of them think that God’s “deliverance” involves only their happiness and material comfort. God wants to call His Church to spiritual renewal, but we must realize that this call will draw us from all we’ve known. God created us to serve Him. When we accept that calling on our lives, we’ll know peace regardless of our circumstances.

Sermon

The first chapters of 1 Samuel described the conditions into which Samuel was born. Israel desperately wanted God to deliver them from the Philistines, but the priesthood lacked the moral authority to lead them in true worship. Eli’s sons had disqualified themselves from succeeding him in the priesthood. Where would God find someone to lead His people when those born to serve Him had no desire to fulfill that call?

The Hebrews needed to remember an important fact about God’s work for His people: God never stops working for His people. God’s work of deliverance in this case began a few years before when a childless woman named Hannah prayed for God to give her a son. Hannah promised that she would give the child to God after she weaned him. Hannah’s son, Samuel, was still only a boy when the events of chapter 3 occurred. In some ways, we could say that Samuel was born to serve God and His people.

God had given no word to His people for years. “The word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.” The people had expected another prophet after Moses, but no prophet arose to succeed Moses. In the next 300 years, very few prophets at all spoke God’s word to the Hebrews.

Samuel’s experiences with God consisted only of his service in the tabernacle. Samuel had apparently assumed some of the priestly duties from Eli’s sons; he slept in the tabernacle itself, meaning they had probably given him the duty of keeping the lamp outside the veil separating the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place. Only the priests were to tend this lamp; Eli’s sons, descendants of Aaron, had abdicated their service before the LORD.

Unfortunately for Samuel, Eli and his sons apparently gave him little spiritual direction. The LORD spoke to Samuel, but Samuel did not recognize Him. Can you imagine working in the sanctuary itself but not recognizing the voice of God?

Samuel thought he had heard Eli calling him and ran to answer Eli’s call. In a phrase laden with meaning since Jacob uttered it in response to God’s call in Genesis 31, Samuel answered, “Here I am!” Samuel heard Eli call, and he eagerly responded.

Eli, puzzled, awoke and answered Samuel: “I did not call; lie down again.” Samuel probably wondered about this; he knew he had heard someone call him. However, he obeyed Eli and returned to his bed.

God called Samuel again; again Samuel ran to Eli to ask his bidding, and again, Eli denied calling him. The next time, Eli finally realized that God had called Samuel. The high priest of Israel could not understand God’s call until Samuel had heard it 3 times.

Fortunately for Samuel and for Israel, God patiently called Samuel a fourth time. Prompted by Eli, Samuel answered the LORD with the words of obedience: “Speak, for your servant hears.”

What can we learn from Samuel’s obedience? Does God still create us for a purpose?

First, we should realize that, like Samuel, God created us to obey Him and serve Him. This bothers many people who want to believe they control their lives. However, we must learn to trust God enough to believe He loves us enough to call us for the purpose He created us. I’d remind you to read Psalm 139 again and see the comfort David finally achieved when he learned to trust God and His omniscience.

We should also realize that God still works in our lives today, even when it seems He is absent from the circumstances of our lives. The Hebrews wondered whether God would ever deliver them from the Philistines even as they saw a young boy scurrying around the tabernacle, faithfully serving those who attended worship even when the priests treated the ceremonies with contempt. Did any of the Hebrews understand that God was preparing this boy to lead them into the period of their greatest glory, that of the monarchy?

What about in your life? I believe God started working in our lives even before our births. Like the Hebrews, we needed deliverance from our oppressors. We were oppressed by sin and in the clutches of death at the moment of our births. We needed help and, like the Hebrews, could not save themselves.

This season in the Church year, the season of Epiphany, commemorates the presentation of Jesus to the world. Jesus’ birth, like Samuel’s, signaled God’s love for His people long before His ministry began. When God spoke to Samuel, He called him to prophesy to Eli. At Jesus’ baptism, God spoke to His Son, saying, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11). God later called Samuel to anoint Saul as the first king of Israel and then David as the rightful king. The Virgin Mary, Jesus’ human mother, descended from David; Samuel anointed Jesus’ ancestor as the king of God’s people.

The people of Jesus’ time had waited 450 years for God to speak to them before Jesus began His ministry. Unlike Samuel, however, Jesus Himself would redeem God’s people, through His death, burial, and resurrection. Jesus’ victory over sin and death dwarfed Samuel’s victory over the Philistines in 1 Samuel 7.

I also believe God calls us to serve in His Church. Many people will ask, “How do you know that God is calling you?” Personally, I’ve experienced God’s call to salvation and later to ministry. When God calls His people to serve, He uses the Holy Spirit to guide us. I’d love to explain it, but I can only say that you’ll know the Holy Spirit is calling you. If you want to know if the Holy Spirit is calling you, remember that His call will always align with Scripture and the Church. God will never call anyone to do anything contrary to His revealed will in Scripture. On the other hand, God’s call will always serve to benefit the Church.

Samuel became the last judge of Israel and the greatest prophet of Israel since Moses. God still calls His people to serve Him. When God chooses you for service to His Church, obey the call — and experience the joy of serving God and His people.