Thursday, January 12, 2012

Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening...


Samuel, one of the great prophets of salvation history, was the son of Hannah and Elkanah, conceived only after Hannah (Elkanah’s second wife) pleaded with God for a child.  Hannah promised God that, should he allow her to bear a son, she would dedicate the child to the service of God with a nazirite vow.

Once Samuel, whose name means “Because I asked God for him,” was weaned, Hannah took him to the temple, where he remained in the service of the Lord under the priest Eli.  It is during this time that Samuel hears a voice calling him in the night.  Believing it to be Eli, he runs to him; the third time this occurs, Eli realizes that the Lord is calling Samuel, and tells Samuel to respond, Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.  This is the beginning of Samuel’s life as a prophet.

Thereafter, Samuel will go on to become the last of the Hebrew judges as well as the first major prophet to prophesy within Israel.  He will organize the people and lead an army against the Philistines.  Later, when the Israelites insist on having a king to rule over them, Samuel will anoint both Saul and David.

Samuel was open to hearing God’s voice.  If God spoke to us today, would we be ready to respond, Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening?

The image below is a 19th-century stained glass representation of the young prophet Samuel and the priest Eli by Edward Burne Jones, from the Vyner Memorial Window, Oxford Cathedral.

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