A Promising Future

A Promising Future

Where Grace Meets Shiloh: Part 4
September 7, 2025

1 Samuel 3:1-21, 1 Samuel 7:3-17

So, Samuel grew up, and the Lord was with him, not allowing any of his words to fail. All Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was trustworthy as the Lord’s prophet. The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh because the Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh through the Lord’s own word.

~  1 Samuel 3:19-21 (CEB)

_______________

Samuel grew up in Eli’s household as a servant of Lord’s tabernacle.  In some ways, we might say he grew up in church, literally.  He became comfortable around the holy things and learned early on to appreciate their significance.

He also had a front row seat to corruption in the house of God.  He saw Eli’s sons taking advantage of the offerings and even abusing the women who served at the tent of meeting.  Samuel knew both the best and worst of religion firsthand. 

The story in chapter 3 is familiar: God calling to a young boy in the night and giving him a vision for Israel.  Samuel did not recognize God’s voice at first, but Eli taught him how to respond and listen. 

Unfortunately for Eli, God’s word to Samuel meant bad news for his family.  The corruption of Eli’s sons and Eli’s unwillingness to confront it had reached its limit.  Their priestly service would end, and justice would be restored.

To Eli’s credit, he accepted God’s judgment, even when it came through a child.  Samuel grew to be a great prophet, trusted by the people. 

We often hear this story in individualistic terms: a young boy hearing God’s call to ministry.  This is the way we often hear it at ordinations alongside the hymn, “Here, I Am Lord.”

While there is nothing wrong with that reading, I am struck this week by what this text says to us as a community.  The tabernacle was not a church in our modern sense, yet it shared a similar role as a center of worship, and was not immune to corruption, even within its own leadership.  In every generation, God’s people have wrestled with the tension between the holiness we are called to and the reality of our brokenness.

But here is where I believe it also points to a promising future.  Despite all the faults of the tabernacle, or the church, God continues to speak.  Just as God spoke to Samuel, the Spirit still raises up leaders to call God’s people back to their holy purpose.  Chapter 3 ends with the hopeful reminder that the Lord continued to appear at Shiloh because the Lord had revealed himself there to Samuel, and Samuel remained faithful to the word he had been given.

To whatever degree we are faithful with the word entrusted to us, this church, and the church throughout the world, can still bear witness to God’s faithfulness, even when we have been unfaithful.

For Further Reflection: 

• How have you heard God’s word spoken to you through the church?

• What is yours to do in helping the church live faithfully?

Heaven's Whisper

---

Heaven’s Whisper
Let the Children Come - Part 3
Sunday, August 21, 2022
1 Samuel 3:1-21

Then the Lord came and stood there, calling just as before, “Samuel, Samuel!”

Samuel said, “Speak. Your servant is listening.”

1 Samuel 3:10 (CEB)

Listen to this week’s sermon here:

____________________

According to the religious hierarchies of the day, the people who should have heard God's voice in this story were Eli and his sons.  They were the authorities, the ultimate insiders by birth and by vocation.  But they were not the ones God chose.

 Instead, God chose Samuel.  A child.  A boy on the periphery, one whose capacity for openness and wonder was dulled, perhaps, but still recoverable.  A child who wasn't bound by the political interests of his elders.  A child who could tolerate an unfamiliar voice and an uncomfortable message — a message that would upend the very institution he knew best.

Debie Thomas, journeywithjesus.net (Lectionary Essays)

The historian Josephus writes that Samuel was likely around 12 years old when he heard God’s call, and as we might imagine, he was extremely confused.  He had been raised in the home of a priest and knew all of the inner workings of the religious system, but he also had a front row seat to the scandals and brokenness even within the priest’s own family.

The system was so broken, in fact, that the writer says in verse 1 that the word of the Lord was rare in those days.  How tragic, that this 12 year old boy whose mother dedicated his life to the service of God and who quite literally grew up in the church, would not recognize God’s voice and in fact would find himself quite surprised to hear a word from God at all. 

And yet if we consider our own lives, especially among those who have spent most of our lives in church, I wonder if we should not be so surprised after all.  I’ve met people who sat in churches for 80 years who had never heard of Jacob (Abraham’s grandson and the father of the 12 tribes of Israel).  Biblical illiteracy is as common in the church if not more-so than in the culture at large.  We take our identity as God’s people for granted to the point that we no longer actively listen for God’s voice.  It’s almost as if God has already said all there is to say.  We believe the Bible, even if we don’t read it or actually know what it says.  What more do we need?

What if what we need is the open heart, the discerning ear, and the humble yet courageous voice of a child to remind us that God is not finished talking yet?  And maybe, just maybe, God’s word is not as rare as we may think in our world today.  Maybe it is simply being heard by those who choose to ignore it, or those who don’t recognize it, or even worse, those who know it and speak it while we ignore them because they are too young, or too different, too radical, or too unexpected a person to carry the message of God to those of us who think we know better.