Samuel Hears God

Samuel's story starts with his mother. Hannah had no children and prayed for a son, promising to give him to the Lord. God answered, and when Samuel was young she brought him to serve at the house of the Lord in Shiloh, under the priest Eli (1 Sam 1–2). But Eli's own sons, who were priests too, were greedy and corrupt, and Eli did not stop them. A prophet had already warned Eli that his family would lose the priesthood (1 Sam 2:27–36).

Chapter 3 says that in those days messages and visions from the Lord were uncommon. Eli was old and nearly blind. One night, toward dawn, while the lamp of God was still burning, the boy Samuel was asleep in the temple, near the ark of the covenant.

The Lord called Samuel by name. Samuel ran to Eli, sure the old man needed him. Eli said he hadn't called and sent him back to bed. It happened a second time. The text explains why Samuel kept getting it wrong: he had served in the Lord's house for years, but God's voice was still new to him.

The third time, Eli realized it was the Lord. He gave Samuel the advice that has guided people in prayer ever since: if the voice comes again, answer it as the Lord's own servant, ready to hear whatever he has to say.

Then the Lord was there, calling once more, Samuel! Samuel! This time Samuel answered as Eli had taught him.

The message was hard. God was about to carry out the judgment he had announced against Eli's house, because Eli's sons had treated holy things with contempt and Eli had failed to restrain them. Samuel lay awake until morning, then opened the doors of the house of the Lord as usual, afraid to tell Eli. Eli made him tell everything. Samuel held nothing back. Eli humbly accepted it as the Lord's decision.

Samuel grew up. The Lord stayed with him and made every word he spoke come true. All Israel, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south, recognized that Samuel was a true prophet of the Lord.

Samuel's first answer to God, I'm listening, is a model for prayer. Prayer is not only talking to God; it is also listening to him.