“The lamp of God was not yet extinguished, and Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was.
The Lord called to Samuel, who answered, “Here I am.”
1 Samuel 3:3-4 (NAB)
Samuel was the little boy who was dedicated to the temple by his mother, Hannah. It’s a bible story often seen in children’s books, about a boy who hears the call of God in the silence of night, while he is sleeping, but the story of Samuel has a lot more to say about how God’s heart can be grieved, just like the heart of any human parent.
The high priest Eli had a grieved heart over his two adult sons, who behaved irreverently as priests. Bible stories reveal that God has the heart of a parent, who also becomes deeply grieved over the sin He observes on the earth.
There are details in this Bible story that are never mentioned in any children’s books. Eli’s two adult sons were abusing the sacred office of their priesthood with bribery, sexual promiscuity and greed. Eli, being a very passive father, knew about his sons’ immoral behavior and begged them to reform, but he never had the courage to take action and remove them from the priesthood.
God’s heart was grieved over Eli’s sons and planned to raise up Samuel to be a priest in their place, but Samuel was still a young boy, being educated, learning the roles and rituals of Hebrew priesthood from Eli.
One night God spoke directly to Samuel, audibly calling his name waking him up out of his sleep. After the third time Samuel heard his name called, he answered “Hineni”, meaning “Here I am”, in Hebrew. It seems to be the first step to hearing God speak to us in the silence, saying, “Here I am, Lord.” God revealed to Samuel that the sons of Eli had grieved His heart and He was going to remove them from the priesthood.
Samuel went to Eli to report what the Lord told him. This was the start of Samuel’s personal relationship with God. He grew to become a great prophet, who understood God’s heart, as to what grieved Him as well as what pleased Him. Samuel went on to guide the future kings of Israel, and was the first to coin the phrase,
“Man looks at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart.”
God intends for all people to have a friendship with Him as Samuel did. We can see it in Genesis, when God would walk in the silence of the garden with Adam and Eve each day. They had a relationship of walking and talking with God, until they later hid from Him. Then God called Abraham and Moses His friends, as they listened to His voice in the silence. None of these people were perfect, yet God had a relationship with them. Even David, who stumbled in worse ways than anyone, was called by God “a man after His own heart.”
Jesus now calls us His friends, and no longer servants.
(John 15:15)
Friends share their joys and sorrows with one another. This would mean that Jesus wants to share his joys with us, as well as what grieves Him. On the other side of that, He wants us to be honest and open, sharing all that grieves us as well. When we hold in our grievances and frustrations, we miss out on the great benefit of intimate friendship with Jesus.
Repentance precedes friendship with Jesus, which is the beauty of Christianity. His death and resurrection changed the whole dynamic between God and people forever. Even those who have stumbled morally, like Eli’s sons, are no longer cut off, but invited to repent, return to God and receive forgiveness, cleansed by the blood of Jesus.
God sees our hearts especially when we are grieving, and He is calling us to see His. He wants to walk and talk with us in the silence of whatever garden we happen to be in. We are all at different stages of listening, but in the silence of the night or the garden, God is always calling us. He patiently waits until our response is like Samuel’s, “Here I am, speak Lord, I am listening.”
(1 Samuel 3:10)
I once heard a true story that reminds us of how God reaches out to every soul in silence. A prostitute was flipping through radio stations in her car one day, when she heard a Christian message of love and redemption that sparked something deep within her. In the silence of her car, God’s voice called her out of her lifestyle. Her heart was ripe and ready and her soul was awakened to the call of repentance. The Holy Spirit changed her life ever since.
Lord, help us to shut off all the outside noises, so we may hear you in the silence, so that we speak less and listen more attentively to your voice. Amen
