Friday, January 22, 2010
Samuel’s Brave Choice
(I Samuel 3:11-18)
Accommodation is the great temptation of every true prophet of God. By “accommodation” we refer to the temptation to trim God’s message in order to please a human audience. Accommodation seeks popular appeal over accurate communication of God’s truth. Accommodation seeks the praise of men and the smile of heaven. Mark this well: accommodation does not overtly deny truth. Rather, it modifies the message just enough to deaden the impact and mitigate the offense. Accommodation is the sin of the seeker-sensitive church movement.
Samuel had been a God-called prophet for less than a few hours when the temptation to accommodation first reared its enticing head. The young man knew that the Lord’s recitation of Eli’s curse would be offensive to the old priest. In addition, Samuel’s knowing such an embarrassing revelation may well send the old man into a violent tirade. How much better, how much easier, it would be to keep the negative message to himself!
And so the moment of testing arrived. “Samuel, what is it that the Lord said to you? Don’t hide it from me; tell me all.”
Then Samuel, taking a deep breath, rehearsed the entire uncomfortable revelation to his master. The Bible says he “hid nothing from him.” Samuel, as God’s mouthpiece, faithfully relayed the message with all its force and sting. Then he searched the old man’s eyes for a response.
Eli’s resignation perhaps surprised Samuel: “It is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good.” And Eli’s response taught Samuel a valuable lesson: Relay God’s message fully and accurately, and leave the results to God.
