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Our 2008 theme verse – 1 Sam. 3:9-10
”Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening”
Introduction
In Maranatha churches, 1 Samuel 3:9-10 is our theme verse for 2008. The world reckons
the advent of another year as another 52 weeks of opportunities, more time
to pursue our own goals and dreams.
For us, however, the turning of the year means fewer opportunities, because we focus on the little time
remaining until the Lord comes. Each
week or month that passed brings us closer to our Blessed Hope, the coming
of our Lord Jesus. We feel that we
must make the most of the time we have remaining (see Eph. 5:16). Time is running out for us to carry out
everything the Lord wants us to do, and for those around us to receive the
blessing of salvation through Christ.
A new year is a new challenge for us, because it marks a milestone -
that much less time to fulfill our mission here on earth.
In this biblical story, Samuel is a little boy who
lives at the Tabernacle in Israel and helps with chores. This was the
twilight of the period of the Judges in Israel, a time of great spiritual
confusion. The priests in that day
had lost connection with God. The Bible
says that it was very rare then for anyone to hear directly from God. The people had stopped listening. The priests themselves were unfaithful. There were awful scandals surrounding the
new generation of priests, and the old generation had grown weak, lazy, and
ineffective.
God wanted to bring spiritual renewal, to restart His
relationship with His people. He
called to the boy Samuel in the night.
Samuel awoke to the sound of someone calling his name, but he had no
idea that it might be God speaking, because that was outside his experience
up to that point. He rushed to the
elderly high priest, Eli, assuming that he had been calling out for
him. The priest himself did not
imagine that God might be calling the boy.
Instead, he initially instructed the boy to go lie down and sleep.
Eli’s instruction to Samuel is an illustration
of what religious leaders always tell their flocks after the connection
with the Lord is lost. The message
of having an obedient relationship with the Living God fades away, and the
new message is simply reassurance, vague words of hope. Relax, they tell their audience. You can sleep peacefully tonight. Do not worry about sin, or God’s
will, or judgment, or anything like that. Everything is fine. Sometimes the members begin to hear God
calling – and they go to their leaders, who encourage them to ignore
it, to go on with their lives as usual.
God was persistent.
He kept calling Samuel; Samuel kept getting confused and running to
the priest. The priest told him
repeatedly to lie down and ignore it.
Eventually, the priest realizes that something extraordinary might
be happening – he remembers that God used to speak to His people in
previous ages. So
Eli told Samuel to wait for the voice to call again, and to respond, “Speak,
Lord, your servant is listening.”
Samuel did so, and God began to speak to him in detail – and continued
to do so throughout his life!
This is the instruction for us today. If we want to hear from God, we must be
willing to listen and obey. When God
calls, we should ask Him to speak more to us, whatever He wills. Unfortunately, many of us are so attached to our own opinions and preferences that
we have limits on what we will tolerate from God. In such cases, we are not truly open to
whatever the Lord wants to say. God
looks for individuals who will listen when He speaks.
The Lord often speaks to His faithful servants,
through the Word and through spiritual gifts, to remind us that He will
take care of us if we are faithful and obey. He constantly brings us the revelation
from eternity so that we will have strength to carry on and complete the
Work the Lord has entrusted to us.
For more information about Maranatha, or to find out if we
have a church near you, please contact us at info@maranathacentral.org.
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