1 Samuel 1:1-22; 1 Samuel 3:1-14
June 6, 2021
- Being a Called People/A Journey into the Samuel books
Have you ever gotten a call that you were not expecting? I have a feeling you probably have. Sometimes they are good surprises like a new baby coming into the family; sometimes they are more troubling calls like a loved one taken seriously ill; sometimes they are just plain annoying like all of those robocalls from random phone numbers. I am not sure how many times my truck’s warranty can expire.
I received a surprise call once right after I became the pastor of Blackstone Presbyterian in 2003. On my way back from a pastoral visit in Lynchburg, I had purchased a drink with a game top. When I returned home, I entered the code on the internet and did not give it a second thought. Maybe a month later, I received a call from someone who said I had won a prize. I could not think of what they were referencing, and of course, I thought it was a scam, but thankfully, I eventually remembered that I had entered a contest and (turned out) won a seat in the “Pepsi Win a Billion Dollars Sweepstakes.” Because SOMEONE had to work, my wife and her mother went on an all-expenses paid trip to LA that involved being a part of the television show. Yes, I have all the proof of this happening, and no, we did not win a billion dollars, but that was a good call to receive as a surprise. If that should happen to me here in next few months, maybe God is trying to tell me something.
God does have a history of calling people for certain things, and they are always surprises. Noah, Abram, Moses, and you heard one of the more interesting call stories just a minute ago with Samuel. Even today, we still speak of calling and vocation (after all, that is what the word vocation means – “a calling”). Certain jobs like educators, medical staff, police or fire or EMTs, and clergy can all easily be connected to a sense of call. Service jobs seem to reflect the idea of call, but the idea that God invites us into greater expressions of service is a powerful notion. Just think, God seems to intentionally bring us into greater and greater ways of working God’s good. It is a way of expressing our worth.
We are going to be considering this from time to time as we walk through the books of Samuel over the next few months. My plan is to encounter the figures and their stories in these books throughout which God calls people into times of service. Sometimes it seems to work out well; sometimes not so well. Oftentimes, the characters fail pretty significantly, yet God’s call continues. Even though the people of God, the heroes of the story, seem to lose their heroic stature, God keeps them a part of this greater story. I think that is a pretty significant point, and it applies pretty well to Eli, the high priest at the beginning of the book of First Samuel, but the beginning of the book is really about someone else, Hannah.
You probably know that God likes to call attention to certain people who come into this world through the gift of people having children who could not have children. Sarah, Rachel, Hannah, Elizabeth, and Mary are some of the notable mothers in the Bible incapable of bearing kids, but their children would go on to be very important people in the story. Hannah is the only one who makes a deal with God, however.
I’ve never really understood what to think of this. Can we really be trusted to ask for the best things from God? Can we really get God to do anything that God would not do anyway? Why would God make a deal with us, in the first place? This is another sermon one day. Even though, we cannot necessarily understand completely how this works, it is clear that God uses the need, the request, Hannah’s pain to offer the people a future. Samuel is a huge figure in Jewish history. After all, he has two books attributed to him. He is considered a judge, a prophet, and even functions as a priest, but first, we need to get Samuel born. You heard the story. It is pretty straightforward. It is also a little comical, insofar as Eli thinks Hannah is drunk when she is praying. Because Eli is the priest in that day, I guess he is used to dealing with all kinds of people coming up to the holy place, Shiloh. This was something like Jerusalem before there was Jerusalem. Religious occasions could be more festive back then. If someone showed up here a bit intoxicated, it would probably be a little distracting for us, too. Thankfully, Eli understands quickly the situation and blesses it.
I am struck by the kind of commitment and faith it must take to give your child to something or someone else. My sister has had Chinese children living with her family for years. This year one will graduate from high school and enroll at Clemson for some kind of biotech degree. That is four years that this young person has already been living here, and last year she did not get to return home at all. Her family’s plan for her is to make her career and life over here, too. Parents who are so desperate for the welfare of their children today that they will send them off just boggles my mind. I cannot pass judgment on them because I don’t know what it is like to live in a situation in which I feel my child is better off without us than with us. Others do not have this luxury and have to make what seems a terrible decision. That is not Hannah’s situation, however, but she does believe her future as a wife depends on her having a child. And the only way she believes she might get a child from God is to promise to give him to the Lord’s service. This also seems difficult in the desperation and the cost.
We have no idea how our kids will end up, however. Just because a child is raised in a godly or reverential environment does not ensure that they will follow in godly or reverential ways. That was the problem with Eli and his sons. He was not crooked, but his sons were horribly crooked and abused the people. They were in line to become the next priests, too, so this situation was dire. What made it worse is that Eli did not correct them. It was time for change; it was time for Samuel.
God apparently could not wait for Samuel to grow up. As a boy, God called to him for his work, his service, as a prophet. In a time when people no longer had visions, God came. In a time when the word of God was rare, God spoke. You are supposed to hear this passage and understand just how desperate things are. Where is God? Does anyone care? Who is listening out there? The religious structures were corrupt and not worth much. Things were getting worse and worse.
That is when the call came. I suspect at some point in our lives we might have appreciated a message from God. Maybe we had to make some big decision or commit to a path in life. Maybe it was whether to get married to a certain someone. I don’t believe God sent you much of a direct answer, though. We tend to not get the voice in the night like Samuel did. Even Samuel did not know what to make of it until Eli explained what he was to do. He was not looking for a word or direction. He was not seeking a job for God like this, this kind of service. The message he was commissioned to share was one of doom and condemnation for Eli. The sons die in the next chapter and Eli the one after. It ends horribly for them all with the very Ark of the Covenant being captured by the Philistines. That is the same ark carrying the original Ten Commandments. It all began with this call and Samuel’s willingness to hear.
So what is God calling you to do today? You will be glad to know that speaks to us at any age. Literally, God in Scripture calls those in their youngest years and in their oldest years. Makes no difference. Service is service; mission is mission; willing hearts are willing hearts. There is use for any and all of us in the Kingdom of God, so what is God calling you to do today?
When God does call, it is never going to be easy. When you feel God’s voice, it may be a great comfort because you have direction. I know I have felt great comfort in God’s leading voice in my life, but it came with life change and cost. When I have felt God’s voice it has meant giving up and taking on. Even coming here meant I had to change and go through the process of a new job, a new life, new friends, and new commitments. I have never regretted it, but there was a cost with the blessing. If God gives us a sense of direction and a call, it is because the one we are on is not the one we are to stay on.
When we work in God’s service, it is for change. We are not propping up the powers of this world but calling them to something better, more righteous, more reflecting Christ, more loving. We are never called to uphold the status quo but to encourage those around us to reach for something better. When Samuel was given the burden of his calling, he knew it was going to be hard and difficult. He did not even want to tell Eli, but it was for the good of the people and God’s work in their midst. Samuel would end up leading the people through the biggest change in their history since the Exodus. We will see more of that to come.
Our community is always crying out for Godly change. This is going to require people willing to hear God’s call. Even Samuel needed help discerning how he could serve God. We are in this together, but we need to be listening. We can be actively seeking God’s direction like Hannah or at least be open to God’s leading like Samuel, but the voice of God is for us and with us and has a direction for us, if we will listen. To God be the glory. Amen.