Saturday, January 23, 2010
A Pattern of Faithfulness
(I Samuel 3:19-21)
The young prophet had passed his first test, and he had learned his lesson well. Having proclaimed God’s message fully and accurately to Eli, his courage grew along with his young body. Samuel was becoming a man—a man of God.
The Bible tells us that “the Lord was with him”—words so simple as to be carelessly passed over by casual readers. Those words, however, reveal the effectiveness of the prophet’s ministry. And the divine presence, resting in power upon the young man’s life, bolstered Samuel’s resolve. We’re told that Samuel became the faithful guardian and preacher of God’s words; he allowed none of the Lord’s words to “fall to the ground (19).
Samuel possessed what we today call a “high view of Scripture,” the idea that the inerrant Word of God should be carefully guarded and proclaimed to each successive generation. Samuel’s zeal for God’s Word was quickly recognized by the nation at large, and his prophetic authority was unquestioned by the people. Whether they liked his message or not, they recognized that his words were the words of God.
Having proved faithful to his calling, Samuel began receiving revelations from the Lord on a regular basis (3). No longer would the nation languish spiritually without regular direction from the Lord. In fact, Samuel’s ministry set the stage for Israel’s tribal confederation to meld into a powerful nation with God-chosen, centralized leadership. Though she would still face the trials and consequences of her own willfulness, Israel’s best days lay ahead—forged and directed by the words of the faithful prophet Samuel.
