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Reflection:

I’ve often overlooked Eli’s wisdom in this passage. A 12-year-old boy stumbles out of bed several times in the night, and Eli, though it takes a few tries, doesn’t assume he’s just sleep walking, but realises that God is waking the boy up. It would take more than three tries for that thought to occur to me in the middle of the night, and I can even prove it.

In my early 20’s, I worked in a Christian Summer Camp in the USA. There was a 9-year-old little girl who had never been away from home who cried all day and all night. She worked herself into a frenzy when she was the last one to fall asleep and would come and find me multiple times during the night. I tried so many tactics to calm her down, and eventually decided that if I taught her how to pray, it might occupy her long enough for me to get some sleep. Selfish, I know. It worked; she fell asleep, and I rejoiced. What I didn’t realise is that God had also been calling her. Though she wasn’t called to be a prophet of Israel, God had an appointment with her, and he was waiting for me to lead her to him. Even in my selfish motives, God found his way to this little girl. The child that got out of bed the next day was a different person. She was smiley, bouncy and even excited to go to bed later so she could pray more. The preceding days, during bedtime stories, were the first time she’d ever heard any stories about Jesus. She gave her life to Jesus at the end of camp, though I suspect that really happened on the night she first prayed.

But she isn’t the only person God touched that night. This little girl was the first person that I had led to the Lord, even if it was by accident. It was the first time I believed that God could use me, no matter how few skills I had.

God also used Eli to help Samuel understand. God chose both of them in that moment, and he wants to use all of us to teach the generations after us to hear God’s voice.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, open my eyes to little ones around me who you are calling to your purpose. Please use me like you used Eli, help me to recognise when you are working in a child’s life so I can nurture their faith and raise them to love you.

1 Samuel 3:1-21

The Lord Calls Samuel

1The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.

2One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. 3The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord, where the ark of God was. 4Then the Lord called Samuel.

Samuel answered, “Here I am.” 5And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.

6Again the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

“My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.”

7Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.

8A third time the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. 9So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

10The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”

Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

11And the Lord said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle. 12At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family—from beginning to end. 13For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons blasphemed God, and he failed to restrain them. 14Therefore I swore to the house of Eli, ‘The guilt of Eli’s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.’ ”

15Samuel lay down until morning and then opened the doors of the house of the Lord. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision, 16but Eli called him and said, “Samuel, my son.”

Samuel answered, “Here I am.”

17“What was it he said to you?” Eli asked. “Do not hide it from me. May God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything he told you.” 18So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Then Eli said, “He is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes.”

19The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground. 20And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord. 21The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word.

Opening the Bible Together

Day 9 of 14

NIV

1 Samuel 3:17-21

Days

1 Samuel 3:1-21