In the presence of a friend, recently I had the opportunity to reread and reconsider that wonderfully and artfully crafted story of young Samuel (1Samuel 3:1-10). You might recall that Samuel’s mother, Hannah, whose name means: “grace” prayed that she might conceive and bear children. In response to her prayer, the LORD was gracious, whereby she conceived and bore her firstborn, whom she named Samuel. Remarkably, upon her weaning this her firstborn son, she then gave him to the LORD, which meant that Samuel came under the tutelage of Eli the priest, who served “the house of the LORD” at Shiloh.
One night, according to the author of 1Samuel, the LORD spoke to Samuel, even though “the word of the LORD” was very rare in those days; even though “the lamp of God had not yet gone out”; and even though “Samuel did not yet know the LORD”. Seemingly, from the perspective of our author, life among the ancient Hebrews, who were a loose confederation of tribes, was bleak. Their Liberator was far distant and virtually silent, and therefore life was a recurring cycle of oppressive hard labor and conflict – perhaps in many instances meaningless. Their lives were filled more with darkness than with light, and into this life, the LORD spoke – to a small boy, whose mentor, wrapped in priestly garb was anything but Godly.
The darkness of their lives was their own doing (and undoing), but the good news is that into this darkness the LORD spoke; into this darkness the Creator of heaven and earth initiated relationship. Admittedly, in the context of 1Samuel 3, the word He spoke, the word Samuel was to bear, was judgment against the house of Eli; and as hard as that word was and as difficult to bear, it was necessary, if the darkness was to be dispelled. Having been obedient to Eli, “Here I am for you called me”, so too Samuel became to the LORD he had not known. Obedience to the one he transferred to the Other: “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.”
With my friend, as we looked upon our world: North Korea and Syria; sex trafficking, and sexually abusive leaders; and the American church and its wealth in the face of global poverty, we were led to ask: Amid the avalanche of our words (many that are horrible and reprehensible), is “the word of the LORD” rare in our own day – and if so, would we recognize its absence?
I wonder,
Stan