January 17, 2021 I Samuel 3.1-20 “Arise and Hear” Pastor Jacqueline Hines

 For this is the day that the Lord has made, and we are rejoicing and being glad in it. Arise and Hear.

Let’s begin with the scripture lesson from 1 Samuel 3.1-20

3Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli. The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.

2 At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room; 

³the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. ⁴Then the Lord called, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’^* and he said, ‘Here I am!’ ⁵and ran to Eli, and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.’ But he said, ‘I did not call; lie down again.’ So he went and lay down. 

⁶The Lord called again, ‘Samuel!’ Samuel got up and went to Eli, and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.’ But he said, ‘I did not call, my son; lie down again.’ ⁷Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. ⁸The Lord called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.’ Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy.

⁹Therefore Eli said to Samuel, ‘Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” ’ So Samuel went and lay down in his place. 10 Now the Lord came and stood there, calling as before, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ And Samuel said, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening.’ 

¹¹Then the Lord said to Samuel, ‘See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle. ¹²On that day I will fulfil against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. ¹³For I have told him that I am about to punish his house for ever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God,^* and he did not restrain them. 

¹⁴Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be expiated by sacrifice or offering forever.’15 Samuel lay there until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. ¹⁶But Eli called Samuel and said, ‘Samuel, my son.’ He said, ‘Here I am.’ 

¹⁷Eli said, ‘What was it that he told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also, if you hide anything from me of all that he told you.’ ¹⁸So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. Then he said, ‘It is the Lord; let him do what seems good to him.’

19 As Samuel grew up, the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. ²⁰And all Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet of the Lord.

There are two books in the bible named after the prophet Samuel, First Samuel and Second Samuel. First Samuel tells the story of Samuel who was one of the prophetic leaders serving among the 15 Judges that governed Israel for over 300 years. It tells of his childhood and his anointing of Israel’s first King Saul and his tumultuous reign. First Samuel ends with King Saul’s death by suicide on the battlefield with the Philistines.

The second book of Samuel tells of David, also anointed to serve by Samuel. David reigned as King in spite of the fact that he murdered one of his own soldiers to hide the fact that he had stolen his wife.

Samuel was a judge among judges on the bench who served before Israel decided they would be ruled by kings. 

Samuel was also a prophet. That is, his claim to fame was that he was a spokesperson for. Prophets speak the truth even when it is hard to hear. Biblical prophets risked their lives telling an unpopular truth. Jesus was among the many prophets who quickly found themselves on the hit list of leaders of organized crime. There were clearly prophets who spoke the truth and predicted outcomes and consequences that came to pass. There were also false prophets who would say anything they were paid to say or whatever they wanted to say, or whatever the company rules twisted their arms to say.

Just like Jesus, there very little mess that was credible mess in Samuel’s reputation as he went about his ministry. There was plenty of mystery, majesty, miracles, and marvelous outcomes. People believed he was sent from God. There are people that we believe are sent by God today. When they speak, we listen.

Hannah was exceedingly happy to give birth to Samuel. She had been ridiculed, tormented, laughed under the table because for a long time, she did not seem to be able to have a baby. That’s what ancient society did to barren women in her day. Not having children was embarrassing. People believed there was some secret sin for which God was punishing the couple. The cultural pendulum swings to and fro and in some instances, people get away with anything as long as they do not get caught. There are plenty of tax files, birth certificates, and unrecorded conversations that are happily kept private, and not just for those of public figures.

Hannah begged God to give her a son so people would stop looking at her like she had two heads. She was so grateful when God delivered her from the gainsayers, naysayers, and talebearers that she dedicated her son to God and sent him as a little boy

 

to serve in the temple as a trainee.  That was good news for Eli the priest, for he was getting old and his eyes were growing dim. There is always room for more helping hands. 

One of Samuel’s job in the temple was to help Eli keep the light going until daybreak. The light was a symbol and signal that God was ever present and still in the blessing business. The light was a fire that called witnesses to toss their sins into a blaze of destruction and to welcome the refining flames that purify our hearts of gold. 

It was late, so Samuel and his mentor Eli had gone to bed. The text tells us that something unusual happened when “…the lamp of God had not yet gone out.” Samuel heard the voice of the Lord calling his name but he thought it was Eli. “Samuel. Samuel.” Perhaps Samuel thought Eli needed him to get him a glass of water or to open the temple doors for a late night visitor coming for prayer. So, Samuel went to Eli’s room, saying “You called me?” Eli told him to go back to bed.

This happened a couple times when it finally occurred to Eli that Samuel was not dreaming nor was he delusional, but he was hearing the very voice of God calling him because God had something important to say.

Verse 1 tells us that the word of the Lord was rare in those days and visions were not widespread. Those must have been some terrible days. Times are terrible when the preachers have no words to preach and the leaders have no visions to share to see that the ministry of the church  continues. In those days the word of the Lord was rare and visions were not widespread. It is important to hear God’s call and listen to God’s words so that we can arise and get to where God is calling us.

If we are not hearing God, we are probably not hearing each other either. It is very concerning when we do not hear what is on the mind of even one member of a family. If their opinion is not known, their preference is not heard, their thoughts are not shared in one way or another, for there are many ways to speak and to hear. It is best for us to begin searching for how and why that one has been muted, gagged, silenced, ignored, unheard.

For it is often that very voice that we do not hear because our distractions keep us from listening, it is often that very voice that we choose not to hear because our pride and lack of spiritual growth won’t allow us, it is THAT VOICE that God is most urgently and repeatedly calling us to hear. For, who among us can bear the heartbreak of a beloved child of God who is muted, gagged, silenced, ignored, or unheard, before we arise to hear what is unsaid?

Samuel heard God calling. Human hearing is an intricate and delicate design. Our handmade efforts can barely comprehend nor duplicate the hearing ear. But God can take us far above the limits and the losses of our hearing. Hellen Keller is a perfect example. She was born in Alabama and before the age of two was deaf as well as blind. By God’s grace, she became a writer, civil rights advocate, and an advocate for persons living with disabilities.

What does it mean that the prophet Samuel could hear the voice of God calling his name? We would all probably agree that Samuel was having a supernatural experience. We know there are things happening in us and around us that are inexplicable and unobtainable. No mere human can duplicate the voice of God. We cannot command God to speak on demand. God’s voice is among those forces that are beyond our control and beyond our understanding.

Such forces are within all of creation. Can we begin to comprehend that the heart never rests from its beating like other muscles or that the beats are not perfectly synchronized, but always a little off. I appreciate the discovery in a recent scientific brief that tells how scientists have discovered a little hint of the mechanics of how a baby grows in the womb. It reminds me of making pizza dough.  They see evidence of cells  bending, squeezing, pulling, and pushing in mostly unforeseen, undetected, and incomprehensible forces beyond our control. There is something going on in us and around us all the time that is supernatural. That bending, squeezing, pulling, and pushing that makes a baby grow in the womb is also often what makes us grow in every other way, physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally.

Of course, we can believe it was God’s voice that Samuel was hearing!

Samuel heard God calling him. When he answered, God told him more than he wanted to hear and definitely more than Eli wanted to hear. What Samuel heard was important but not very pleasant.

Samuel heard God’s judgment against Eli for not disciplining his sons when they disrespected God’s house and the people of God. They had failed miserably to make the appropriate  PROPITIATION for their sins. That is, to agree with God about right and wrong and to please God with a right attitude until God was satisfied to continue in a covenant relationship with them. They had also failed to make   EXPIATION for their wrongdoing. That is, after breaking the law, after breaking their vows and their covenant, it was their job to make any victims whole again, to do what is fair and just, to make up for what has been taken, damaged, or lost. God was not pleased and nobody seemed to care.

Samuel did not want to tell Eli the bad news that God had had enough. Eli insisted on hearing it anyway. Yet, he did not seem concerned or afraid of the consequences. He just said ‘It is the Lord; let him do what seems good to him.’

Eli’s complacency and indifference to God’s will and judgment is no surprise. It is rare that any of us run to repent, nor are we in a hurry to rise up and hear what God has to say.

But whenever the Holy Spirit gets a hold on us, and when we do find ourselves surrendering and submitting to the will of God, we hear at least three things. Number one we hear God calling us to come closer to the throne of grace and mercy to love and be loved by God and one another, and no doubt we rejoice. Praise and thanksgiving flow freely from our hearts. Secondly, we hear God’s call to serve those in need. Then justice and mercy are fulfilled. That generates peace throughout the land. Thirdly, we hear God’s call to listen to the cries of the brokenhearted. That brings us closer to God and one another in unimaginably endurable ways.

Like Eli, we may not be spiritually strong and mature enough to hear the cries of each other’s broken hearts and God’s plan to use us to comfort and console one another in our need. Nevertheless, those who do answer the call, encounter the unseen and unspeakable riches of heaven.

God hears every broken heart. It is a blessing to be heard. It is good to hear what God hears. We live in a broken world, so says Rev. Cameron Trimble of Emory University. She wrote a devotional this week called Let it Break. She writes:

Insurrection in breaking our sense of national identity. White racism is breaking black lives. National leaders are breaking our laws and institutions. Our economic policy is disproportionately breaking the poor. Our fear of each other is breaking our communities. Our denial of reality is breaking our hope for a better world.

Everything is breaking.

As scary as it is...let it break. 

Let it break our bigotry. Let it break our hate. Let it break our fear, our privilege, our aggression, our silence. Let it break our delusions, our failed national leaders, our systems that oppress. Let it all break.

When we give up the hope of fixing our systems, we free ourselves to create new ones.  

Yes, everything is breaking. Let it break. A better world is possible when we let go of this one.

 

Let us pray. Open our ears Lord, that we might hear your voice, that we might hear the cries of those around us weeping through the night, that we might share the joy that comes with the morning. Deliver us from the coronavirus and all that is not like you.