Samuel’s first obedience to God while serving in the tabernacle was to monitor the amount of oil in the lamps. He was to inform Eli if the oil ran low.
At this time we know that Samuel had not yet heard from God in a personal way. However, Samuel believed. Thus; he was obedient and honorable toward God in all of his ways.
SAMUEL’S FIRST OBEDIENCE IN CHILDHOOD
God always awards obedience with blessings. We will see this play out further much later in Samuel’s lifetime. If you wish to study this subject of the blessings of obedience a bit deeper, you might enjoy this link: http://BLESSINGS FOR OBEDIENCE – The IN SEASON Lifestyle.
It is interesting to note that even a young child could be trusted to tell if something was missing, or running low. Eli put Samuel in charge of monitoring the oil. All Samuel had to do was watch and let someone know if it got below a certain mark.
Samuel was watching carefully.
He was obedient.
Samuel’s obedience was completely opposite to the actions from Eli’s sons. A little child showed more obedience to the ways of God than two grown men who were trained as priests.
SAMUEL’S FIRST OBEDIENCE IN CONTRAST TO DISOBEDIENCE
Now we know that God cursed all of Eli’s descendants because they were evil.
Additionally, Eli had not repented for them, or admonished them to change their ways.
Yes; it is true that Eli spoke to them casually, but this could be compared to those of us who speak casually of our faith. We claim to be Christians, but how do the actions of our daily lives prove this out?
There was no proof in the pudding.
Words mean nothing without action.
By observing Samuel’s progress, Eli probably realized that obedience could happen if only a student was willing. Samuel was willing to follow God without question.
WELCOME
Thank you for joining us today as we are studying our way through The Book of Samuel. We do this study every Thursday from our COME AS A CHILD BIBLE STUDY topics at The IN SEASON Lifestyle blogsite.
Today we are looking at the scriptures from 1 Samuel Chapter 2.
If you wish to receive our studies every week, just click the “subscribe” button at the top of this post. Provide us with your email address. We will consider you to be part of our study community. Currently we are walking through the scriptures from The Book of Samuel with the heart of a child who is in awe of their Father.
Another new lesson on The Book of Samuel will post every Thursday. Every lesson brings us closer to knowing more and more of God The Father. It is our intention to live out a lifestyle which is a reflection a of God’s Kingdom. Our prayer is for The Father to help us to do so. Left to ourselves, this would be impossible.
However; we believe that all things are possible with God. This study that speaks of the life of Eli has proven how human we all can be.
ARE WE LIKE ELI?
As we look at the flaws in the priesthood of Eli, we need to ask ourselves the following questions. How do we compare in the light of today’s world? Eli became weak in his ministry; but what about us?
Do we diligently keep the commandments of God? Are we paying attention to God’s best ways to live? Have we been guilty of picking and choosing which commandments we want to follow and which ones we wish to ignore?
Have we been observing the true Sabbath and keeping it holy?
Do we observe and celebrate God’s annual holy days?
Are we bringing our first-fruits offerings with a cheerful heart and presenting our best to God, and not our leftovers?
When our brethren fall do we go to them in love, forgiveness and mercy then help them to stand up again?
How do we treat The Most High God? Is He first or last on our list?
Do we treat our fellowman with love and respect?
On The Feast of Trumpets we are asked to shake the dust from the old year from our feet. This means leaving behind sin and moving into more heavenly realms by loving others and following God.
GOD’S TABERNACLE SHOULD NOT BE ABUSED
Both the tabernacle where Samuel served and the temple which was built later were destroyed long ago. Today’s temple, and the residing house of God’s Holy Spirit, can only be found inside the bodies of all living believers. The individuals within God’s Church ARE the living Temple now.
Are we keenly aware that the places where we live are also the places where God’s Holy Spirit lives? We are learning in a spiritual way the things that Samuel was learning in a physical way.
What about the Samuels of today’s generations?
A NEW GENERATION OF SAMUELS
As the living priests and kings in our own homes, what are we teaching our children about true worship? Do they know the difference between true worship and false worship? Do we teach them truth? Have we set idols in front of them instead of The One True God? Are we sending them out into the world to learn the things of God instead of teaching them ourselves? The world will only teach them more of their own vain imaginations. It is up to us to bring God’s truth to the table.
Like Eli; do we cave?
Are we walking away instead of confronting with love whenever we see those of our responsibility are on the wrong track? How much time do we spend praying for God to change the hearts of those who do not even begin to understand His truth, His ways and His sacred Words?
WHAT ARE WE DOING TO OURSELVES?
The curse that came upon all of Eli’s descendants (who had formerly been in line for blessings instead of curses) was not necessary. It could have been avoided.
Eli and his wayward sons needed only to repent of the things they had done wrong. If they would have turned to do the things that were righteous instead, their family heritage would have been saved.
Everything could have been forgiven. The lineage of Eli could have continued and thrived forever.
An eternal curse on generations of people could have been prevented, had only one parent/person (Eli) taken a stand for what is right before God.
Today God’s Great Family heritage is at stake. Every obedient soul makes a difference in light of eternity.
It is a domino effect that begins with one.
One person.
EVERYTHING BEGINS WITH ONE
We are all one person.
That was all that was needed to begin the change which would increase God’s Kingdom on earth.
Now, on this Feast of Trumpets, some of the today’s followers of Jesus are presently observing a time and season which calls for examination and acts of deep repentance. We just finished the month of Elul. This month begins the season of Teshuva which leads into The Ten Days of Awe. The Days of Awe take us from The Feast of Trumpets right up to the most sacred day of the year; The Day of Atonement.
To better understand these days you might review this link: https://www.curtlandry.com/rosh-hashanah-and-the-days-of-awe/#:~:text=The%20Days%20of%20Awe%20is%20a%20unique%20period,of%20the%20covenant%20between.
Today’s lesson actually posts on the day of The Feast of Trumpets. Curt Landry’s ministry which the above link refers to provides an excellent Feast of Trumpets service on another video that you can view on You Tube. I found their service of The Feast of Trumpets for 5785 on God’s calendar to be very relevant and timely.
So; ten days from now we will reach The Day of Atonement.
Are you ready for this day?
Or are you doing the same as Eli and not paying attention? Please do not sleep through the most critical season of the year.
IF MY PEOPLE WHO ARE CALLED BY MY NAME
In light of the season, there is a verse that describes these days and this whole season perfectly. Lately, in America, this verse seems to be publicly on our minds and constantly on our lips. We hear it almost every day as we head full-speed into the end-times.
Constantly, this certain scripture unravels its pages of words for this age and time. You are likely to be reminded of this verse from many religious leaders. It is very time-appropriate and has become very popular among the faithful. There is no question as to the relevance this verse brings into our current situation.
However; the verse should not just be on our lips and quoted routinely from our memories. We are forgetting the largest part of the equation. The words MUST be lived out to be effective.
So; what is this important and relevant verse?
I speak of the words found in 2 Chronicles 7:14:
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
FINDING MY PEOPLE
In a serious effort to live different from Eli, let’s look into just how this verse breaks down. First we must notice who it is speaking to. The verse begins by addressing “my people.”
Just who are “my people” in this verse?
You may have noticed a familiar and repeated pattern in all of the studies of the Old Testament. First God does something physical as an example. This happens almost every time before He acts spiritually toward a certain situation or circumstance.
SHADOWS AND TYPES
First God shows His people a shadow, a physical enactment of the working of His words. Then He brings about the spiritual revelation of that shadow.
In this scripture’s case, the physical shadow we see first involves the times happening during the reign of King Solomon. It is he who utters these words in prayer before the physical nation of Israel.
Solomon’s prayer is speaking of the people of the nation of Israel. He is telling them the desires of God for them. Through prophetic words in prayer King Solomon is declaring a way for the people of the nation he rules not to suffer.
Solomon’s prayers worked in similar fashion to the prayers of Hannah. The words of Hannah’s prayers described her struggling circumstances. God’s answers for her spoke into the future of all of God’s people. Without realizing it; Hannah prayed a prophecy.
TIMELY PROPHETIC PRAYERS
Solomon’s same type of prayer starts with another prophetic message which begins with the words “If my people.”
Again, like Hannah’s prayer, the words of King Solomon’s prayers were clearly manifesting from God to his lips.
Solomon was only the vessel being used by God to proclaim an important message to a physical nation named Israel.
To Solomon and the people living in Israel at that time, the words were national in nature. God created the nation of Israel and held it up to the world as a an example of how He wished for nations of mankind to live upon the earth.
God proclaimed to Israel; “You are Mine.”
PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL REALITIES
There is a physical Israel and there is a spiritual Israel.
Today this spiritual Israel is called The True Church of God.
The True Church does not replace the physical Israel, but it DID EVOLVE from that nation. Therefore, the Church still holds that physical place in high honor and respect. The physical nation of Israel contained the spiritual ancestors of the believers in God’s Church today. Now they are scattered all over the earth.
For example; ponder this: Remember when you first fell in love? Where were you at the time? Do you remember the exact place?
In your mind that place will always remain special and desirable. No matter how much that place changes and evolves over the years, that will still be your perfect memory. It will remain your special place which will forever stay inside your heart. Times may change, but nothing can change that first original memory of your identity. What you learned then would still apply later.
That is comparable to the nation of Israel and God’s True Church today.
A MUSTARD SEED THAT GREW
Like the parable of the mustard seed, God’s True Church started out very small and unnoticed within the people of Israel. Some of them became believers and followers of Messiah. Jesus was born into the physical nation of Israel. God chose the people of Israel to become the nation who would bring us Our Messiah.
This small group, who was made at first from a small group of the people of Israel, believed and followed Jesus Christ. He gave His life for them. They then went out and spread the Good News of The Gospel of Jesus Christ to all of the nations. Other’s eventually came and joined in with them. They too received the gift of salvation.
Some of these “others” were once Gentiles. They were known as people who were not from the nation of Israel. More than that, they were outsiders who did not know or follow God.
Jesus changed them. He made them acceptable to God and to The People of God.
HOW THE CHURCH EVOLVED FROM ISRAEL
All of these people groups came together under Christ and began to form the spiritual nation named Israel. The physical needed the beginnings of the spiritual in order to inherit eternal life. The spiritual needed the physical beginnings in order to receive the Words from God which had been reserved since the beginning of time. The physical nation of Israel had reserved the words which brought them to know eternal life.
You cannot have one without the other.
Israel and The Church, The Church and Israel. They cannot exist without each other.
Both need each other.
This is still true today. God has plans to bring both groups together one day into a Kingdom called Heaven. When God’s time is right, ALL (Physical Israel and The Church) will know Jesus Christ as LORD and Messiah. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is King.
We are now waiting on God’s timing to manifest.
We are waiting on a King.
WAITING ON GOD
Much like the ancients in the days of Samuel, we are waiting on God to declare a King for us.
Physical Israel was waiting and wanting a king way back in the days that Samuel was growing up. They were waiting then, and we are waiting today.
Where do we wait?
God’s people of today need to be waiting on their King while living within the spiritual nation of Israel. I speak of God’s True Church which has EVOLVED and matured from the physical nation of Israel into the spiritual Kingdom of God. That is the place in which God’s people wait today. They know that He is coming back for them.
Why has this miracle become so hard for some to see?
Remember how Eli was growing blind in his old age?
We too grow blind and for the same reason. It is all because of unrepentance. The blind cannot see. There is a cure for spiritual blindness though; it is called repentance.
THE BLIND CANNOT SEE; THEY MUST BE HEALED
Like the little mustard tree that grew from a tiny seed which was once so very small and almost invisible, the Church began to grow out of the fertile ground called Israel.
It grew and grew.
Finally, it expanded beyond the physical nation of Israel. Birds from all over the earth came and built their nests within its branches. This portion of physical Israel grew into what we call the True Church of God today.
This is a spiritual place. The naked eye cannot see it. It can only be seen through the heart. God’s People go there in the spirit. Those who know God can see it.
The seeds of the Church began within the physical nation of Israel. Then it grew out into all of the corners of the earth. Many different nations now rest among the shade of its branches. Much like Samuel’s first moments of obedience, the humble beginnings of Israel multiplied over time and caused more good to happen.
So how does this concept relate to the verse above which refers to “my people”?
ARE YOU CALLED BY GOD’S NAME?
Today, “my people” are the members of God’s True Church. They fill places and spaces in all the nations but they first evolved from Israel. The Gospel was first preached to Israel, then the other nations.
Now this old, much used verse has multiplied down through the ages and it’s promise is still alive. As long as God has people who are called by His name these people will exist together in a spiritual Israel called The Church.
Are you “called by God’s name”?
You are if you have answered the call of Jesus, The Messiah of God, who gave His life for all of mankind. If you have answered that call and come to follow Messiah, Jesus, The King of All Kings; you are promised the promises of the verse we speak of here.
God’s blessings will be multiplied to you in a way very similar to Samuel’s first obedience and that little mustard seed that grew into a tree. It will start small and grow as you grow in God’s Holy Spirit.
WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE CALLED MY PEOPLE?
How do we know the “people” (“who are called by God’s Name) ?
They are NOT a nation, a denomination, a people group or a sect.
In the end-times these will be those who overcome because they are obedient to Messiah by following God’s laws and ways. Jesus said “If you love me, keep my commandments.”
The verse from Chronicles actually tells us who they are. They are the ones called by God’s Name. They are “Godly People.” That same trait which provoked Samuel’s first obedience will be reflected in their ways.
LIKE SAMUEL’S FIRST OBEDIENCE
Like Samuel, their ways are humble.
They pray.
These seek the face of God.
They are quick to TURN from their wicked ways.
The people of God are living in The Light of Christ.
They are not blind, but they have eyes to see. They follow The Light. Their lives are spent living into this truth.
THE CHURCH HAS TURNED
In other words; they walk in truth and righteousness, trusting and following God in all that they do.
Turning means doing Teshuva, or repentance; followed by whatever actions reverse your sins. It is an honest examination of your heart in relation to God and God’s ways. This way is a change of action as well as a change of heart. You must speak to God, and God will speak back to you. He will show you the way to walk.
This was where Eli went wrong. He was not a bad priest before this time when his sons were beginning to take over the service of the priesthood.
Still, Eli had neglected the training of the next generation.
They were not fit to serve. Part of this guilt belonged to them, but much of it also belonged to Eli for not trying to change things.
CONTRAST IN LIFESTYLES
Eli’s sons had a parent who could have helped them to change, but he did not. They had someone to show the way yet they did not follow the way. Eli was always there; but he wasn’t effective in teaching them obedience. Eli spent his life looking the other way instead of confronting his situation.
Samuel, in contrast, had been left basically on his own. He did not have a lot of help in learning how to live in God’s ways. All of the examples around him were wrong. Why do you think Samuel found God and Eli’s sons did not?
Why do you think Samuel’s first obedience came naturally and the sons of Eli had not learned from a lifetime full of examples and experience?
Eli’s family did not repent.
It is just that simple.
Take note America.
Samuel was an innocent child. He depended upon God for everything. Our story spoke to us already about how his Mother poured her soul out to God at His altar. She placed him before God and let God teach him directly. Everyday she prayed for this child to grow under God’s grace and mercy.
What do we hear of Samuel doing?
FINDING GOD IN A PERSONAL WAY
He began to sleep inside the Tabernacle inside The Holy Place.
This was Samuel’s first act of obedience.
The Holy Place was where Samuel felt closest to God. Here we see that Samuel moved closer to God and then God came closer to him. It all began because Samuel knew when he was in The Holy Place, he could sleep in peace and feel secure. He knew God lived there.
Samuel chose to move closer to God.
It is the same with all of God’s people. We must learn, like Samuel, to depend only on God. Our goal must always be to spiritually abide within The Holy Place where God dwells. This is a spiritual place, not a physical place. Here we will be safe. It is the perfect place to offer up our prayers.
What else did Samuel do that we should take note of?
STAYING FILLED WITH GOD’S HOLY SPIRIT
Even as a child, Samuel was very concerned that the oil for the Menorah in The Holy Place should never run low. This became one of the first duties of Samuel. He was told to alert Eli if the oil was beginning to run low.
Samuel always made sure the lamp gave out its light. Also, he assured that a constant supply of oil was available and on hand to keep the holy fire from burning out.
Of course we know that the Menorah, or the Great Lamp, is symbolic of Jesus at work among His people. His people are those of His Church, the evolved and spiritual Israel; the ones who have evolved into a place of following God in the way which God always intended.
How do they follow?
They follow God by living in the light of the Great Lamp that never runs low on oil. As The Light of the World, we know the Lamp is Jesus. He is our coming King. Jesus is the way, the truth and the light.
SLEEPING IN SAFETY
Samuel was sleeping, much like the five wise virgins we read about from the parable in the New Testament scriptures. The five wise virgins were the ones who made sure they always had oil in their lamps. They were always ready and prepared, should the Groom appear in the middle of the night.
God was looking for someone like young Samuel who could be found sleeping in the light from a full supply of oil. He desired someone who didn’t mind being awakened in the night in order to meet God. Samuel was exactly who God was needing during this particular period of Israel’s history.
Soon we will see how the practice of sleeping with a full supply of oil in God’s lamps led Samuel into a place of maturity and deeper service to God.
We all could turn and follow this excellent example. It isn’t too late.
All of these things happened during the first acts of obedience from Samuel.
Perhaps we will be able to experience God’s return to earth. This event will only be seen by those who are watching and sure with plenty of oil in their lamps. Anything could happen for the people of God who have faithfully learned how to move closer to God and sleep in The Holy Place.
That was how it began with Samuel.
Maybe God will look down and use us too.
Note to our readers: If you enjoy hearing these stories from the Old Testament, we think you would love reading Book Two of The Gospel Hidden in Genesis by Gail Landgraf. The book is full of stories about different characters of the Old Testament. You will love seeing how God used them for the glory of His Kingdom, exactly in the way He used Samuel in our story today. Each character’s life story brought forth more light and glory to The Kingdom of Heaven. The book is available for purchase at Amazon.com. Each purchase helps to support the work of this blog.