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R: I Samuel 3:10
10 The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
E: A lot has happened since Joshua. So much that I am going back through a big portion of it. Joshua leads the Israelites into this new era of war and battles (some following the Lord’s command and at other times not). As Israel grew and began to take over this Promised Land the Old Testament has been referring to since early Genesis, they continued this constant cycle of pursuing God and then falling away and doing what was right in their own eyes. The book of Judges was about the individuals that God’s Spirit came upon to draw His people back to Himself. One of the last judges in the book of Judges was of course one of the more famous, Samson who dies after pushing over the load-bearing columns in the Philistine temple (an engineering flaw that I hope was fully insured). This scene is set for Samuel to enter.
As God does so many times, He uses a barren women who pleas for a child to bear the significant leader that will lead His people. She promises to dedicate whatever child God gives her to Him, which she does when Samuel is born. Even at a very young age, Hannah leaves Samuel in Eli’s care (the priest). While sleeping in the temple, Samuel hears a voice calling his name and thinks it is Eli, whom he wakes up. This happens twice before Eli realizes that it is the Lord calling Samuel. Eli tells him to respond the way he does in verse 10 above.
A: Recently, Morgan and I have been talking a lot about “callings.” I have heard it explained that there are two predominate callings we have on our lives. The first being the specific call on one’s life to be a son or daughter in the family of Jesus Christ. This is a call that happens at a specific point in time that cannot be taken away, changed, altered, or amended. I have been called into God’s family, not by any work or standard that I have been able to live up to, but solely by the saving blood of Jesus Christ my Savior who lived, died, and rose again to make payment for the sin and wickedness in my heart. This was my calling “To Jesus.”
I believe there to be another type of calling which is a calling “For Jesus.” Discovering why we are here, what we are gifted in, and the influences around us is a great start for revealing what the call on your life is. Samuel’s response is so humbling when he hears the voice of God in verse 10. Currently as we seek what God is calling us to, our prayer is that of verse 10.
P: Lord, thank you so much for the call “To Jesus” for Morgan and myself. We could never fully express how blessed we are to hear our names called to be in your family. Please reveal to us what it is You have planned for us for the short time we have here. “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
Amen.
