1 Samuel 3:10

It is a solemn thing when the people of God as a whole, or any company of His people, have little ministry from the Lord to feed their souls. It is solemn too when they lack spiritual discernment, and when the testimony to God among them is dying out. Such was the condition of Israel in the days of Eli. But God is not unmindful of His people, whatever their condition. So we find the Lord beginning to act from Himself in sovereign grace, "to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death." We might have thought that the people — or the priest on their behalf — would have called upon the Lord. It was the Lord, however, who "called Samuel."

Yet how sweet this divine-human Voice is! In every age it is the same. It calls one by name, for He knows His sheep by name. But may we not also, like Samuel here, mistake the divine voice because it is so human — expecting it from far off, and missing it because it is near?

In Samuel's case, the Lord in rich grace repeated the call until He had separated him from man to Himself. What a happy result of persistent grace! Every truly delivered soul is in debt to it.

Samuel's first lesson was to know and obey the voice of the Lord. We can see why: when the Lord called him, he ran at first to Eli. As a child, he was strongly influenced by the high priest's age and sacred office. But this danger is not limited to the young. A conscience belongs to God alone. How often people hand it over to the claimed authority of men!

Samuel would surely stay wide awake for the fourth call. He answers, "Speak, for your servant hears." He leaves out the word "Lord." No doubt this is because he had not yet been taught about the Lord Himself. That is all too possible even when a person is surrounded by the formal acknowledgment of His things. In fact such things often tend to hide the real knowledge of Him.

Notice also the character of the one the Lord uses for the prophetic office. He had been devoted to the Lord as a Nazirite, and the account calls him, again and again, the child. He is separate from the evil he testifies against. He is devoted to the Lord's interests. Like a child, he is aware of his own weakness and lack of wisdom. So he depends on the Lord and draws all his resources from the Lord. This is the kind of person the Lord uses to reach the consciences of His people.

Had things been normal, God would have spoken to the people in and through the high priest, as He Himself had arranged. But since that was impossible, He spoke to and through the man with the willing ear. This is still His way. Seven times the messages to the churches in Asia say, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." This is clearly an individual matter.