That the Lord called Samuel, and he answered, Here am I. And he ran unto Eli and said, Here am I, for thou calledst me. 1 Samuel 3:4-5
Stories are told about the president of the United States phoning people who he wanted to congratulate for a particular act of heroism or achievement, and of the recipient of the message assuming that it was a prank call. It has happened. More than once. Afterwards, the people who received the call felt foolish for their mistake. But we can understand their reluctance to believe the call was real. Not many people get such calls. That is why we can understand Samuel’s failure to recognize when the Lord called him. Can we recognize when the Lord calls us?
Samuel had no reason to think that it was the Lord calling him. Nobody in Israel was hearing from the Lord at this time in the nation’s history. And he was just a child – a diligent child to be sure, ready to do whatever the old priest Eli needed – and why would the Lord call a child? But it was the Lord’s voice, and until he recognized that, Samuel was not going to be led in the direction that the Lord wanted him to go. He had his daily chores in the tabernacle, and he obviously did them well, because we read that he ‘ministered unto the Lord’. But God had something more for Samuel beyond his regular duties and his obedience to the guidance of the high priest. Do we see anything of ourselves here?
There is nothing wrong – in fact, there is everything right – about our regular duties for the Lord. Our daily prayer and Bible reading is critically important. So is our witnessing for the Lord when He gives us opportunity, as well as our honest and loving behaviour toward those around us. And so is our attendance at the meetings of the Assembly of the Lord’s people, and our diligent preparation for those meetings. But is that all that our Lord wants us to do? Mind you, if we don’t perform our regular duties for the Lord, He is highly unlikely to call us to anything else. But what if He does have something else, are we ready to listen?
We are not necessarily talking about anything huge here. After all, Samuel’s first call from the Lord was just to give Eli a message. It led to far more, of course, because when God had Samuel’s ear once, Samuel was prepared to listen and heed every time. And his life was wonderfully fruitful. But his start was small. And so will ours be small. Perhaps the Lord desires us to pay a visit to a lonely saint, or buy something for another Christian who can’t afford it. Maybe it’s a call for us to take an in-depth study of some portion or aspect of the Scriptures, or to step up our involvement in our Assembly responsibilities. Perhaps the Lord would have us change the bent of our life in some way, such as a different home, or a change in career, or a more involved role in support for a missionary. We will never know, will we, unless our ears are open to His calling, and our feet are swift to obey His bidding.
The Lord will never call us to service unless we are already obeying Him. But if He does call us, we must be ready to listen and heed. -Jim MacIntosh
Here is the link to the video of this message: https://youtu.be/TVC46pJjVyk