Honest to God

Everyone was sleeping. Samuel was sleeping; Eli was sleeping. In fact the Bible says his eyes had begun to grow so dim that he could not see. Sadly that was also a picture of the state of the nation of Israel at the time. They had lost the vision and the voice of God. But Samuel awoke to God's call in the middle of the night and his obedient response - "Speak Lord for your servant is listening"- characterised his life from that moment on and a new day dawned for the nation.

Samuel was the first in a new order of prophet. Reviewing Israelite history, the Apostle Peter, in chapter 3 of Acts verses 20 and 24, indicates that Samuel's life was a bridge connecting two great eras in their history. He was the last of the judges and the first great prophet since Moses. He steered the nation through a very turbulent transition from the chaos of the Judges to the clamour for a King and through it all he remained a faithful servant of the Lord to the end.

Samuel was a man who was honest to God and honest before men. He lived a life of integrity in an era of disappointment, deceit and failure. His was "a long obedience in the same direction" and as we study the first fifteen chapters of 1 Samuel this term we will be instructed and inspired by the lessons we learn from a very humble but significant life.

Phil Jenkins

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