“Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, ‘Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, “‘Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.”’ So Samuel went and lay down in his place. And the Lord came and stood, calling as at other times, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ And Samuel said, ‘Speak, for your servant hears.'” (1 Samuel 3:8a-10)
This passage relates the call of Samuel the Lord’s prophet and judge. His calling ended the period of the Judges, a rather dark time in the history Israel. There was a lack of consistent spiritual leadership as the Israelites had shifted their devotion and worship from Almighty God to the idols of the surrounding pagan. As the end of the book of Judges tells us, everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes. Yet, although they had abandoned God, He had not abandoned them.
Eli was the High Priest at the time, but he was a poor spiritual leader who had grown fat and lazy. Consequently, he was slow to realize that the voice of the Lord was calling Samuel. In fact, he had never heard His voice which is sad because, as leader of the Lord’s people he should have known the Lord intimately. The only time he had heard the Lord speak was through an unnamed prophet who had delivered a dire prophecy in the preceding chapter, a warning that Samuel was to reinforce as we see in the verses which follow this pericope.
Samuel was the first to hear the voice of the Lord in many years. Moses had spoken to God face to face. Joshua had to rely on the High Priest. None of the other judges heard God’s voice as did Samuel, and none of them had his authority, giftedness, and power. That is why the scripture says “none of his words fell to the ground.” It simply means that his prophecies were always true and right. He taught and prophesied only what the Lord gave him.
In these days of political and social upheaval, we live in the midst of idolatry as well as moral and spiritual chaos. Millions of people are doing what is right in their own eyes. Truth is relative to what the individual feels or is based on whatever their itching ears hear on the internet, through the various media outlets, or what they have been taught in schools from Kindergarten through University. They have adopted and chosen to think and believe in the pagan and idolatrous worldview promulgated by these various means. This worldview teaches that truth is not absolute but relative to their own experience and desires.
Unfortunately, we who have faith in Christ are daily influenced by this ungodly worldview. Would that we could hear the voice of the Lord as easily as did Samuel. We hear so many teachings and weighty philosophical and social utterances in our culture through the media that it is hard to discern truth from lie, fake news and opinion from reality. Yet we need no audible voices or prophetic utterances. We have other means: the Word of God as well as the Church and godly and humble pastors and teachers who are filled with God’s wisdom drawn from His Word. It is up to us to exercise our faith so that when the Lord speaks we listen and obey.