Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - God's Wake Up Call | Historical Books | 1 Samuel 3

Episode Date: April 2, 2025

What does an obedient life look like? What made Samuel a prophet? How can we grow in faithfulness? In today's episode, Jensen shares how 1 Samuel 3 encourages us to hear God's word and obey. If you're listening on Spotify, comment below one takeaway from today's episode! Read the Bible with us in 2025! This year, we’re exploring the Historical Books—Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 1 Samuel 3

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jensen Holt McNair. In my current life stage, with two toddlers, I live with the understanding that when I lay down at the end of the day, the next time I wake up will not be to the light streaming in through the window or my alarm blaring in my ear. It will be to the sound of one of my children calling out for me. I'm usually halfway to their bedroom before I realize, what's going on and who even needs me. I just hear someone calling and in my groggy, mom of two young kids state, I make my way to hold a hand, stroke a back, or hum softly until they fall back to sleep. But I get that that isn't everyone's reality. To most people being called out to in the middle of the night might be confusing, alarming even. In 1st Samuel 3,

were told a story of exactly that happening. A young Samuel now living with Eli and the house of God is awoken in the middle of the night to someone calling out for him. Verse 1. The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days, the word of the Lord was rare. There were not many visions. One night, Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord where the Ark of God was. The first three verses of this chapter set the stage for us. Samuel's now a boy. He lives with Eli in the house of the Lord. We are reminded next of the state of Israel. In these days, the days following the dark downward spiraling sin found in the book of judges, the word of the Lord was rare. These are dark times still. Eli, the priest, of the Lord who's tasked with helping Israel to see their sin to open their eyes and enlighten them, well, he's going blind. We should walk away from these verses recognizing the spiritual

reality of God's people is really, really bleak. But we should also find encouragement that the lamp of God had not yet gone out. The inclusion of this fact both helps us understand that we're still in the hours of the night. This lamp is only burned from sundown to morning each day. But it also gives us a spiritual hope. The lamp of God had not gone out. It was still being burned. There was still hope. Let's continue on in the story. Then the Lord called Samuel. Samuel answered him, here I am. And he ran to Eli and said, here I am. You called me. But Eli said, I did not call. Go back and lie down. So he went and lay down. Again, the Lord called Samuel. got up and went to Eli and said, here I am, you called me. My son, Eli, said, I did not call, go back and lie down.

Now, Samuel did not yet know the Lord. The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. A third time, the Lord called Samuel. And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, here I am, you called me. Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel go. and lie down, and if he calls you, say, speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. So Samuel went and lay down in his place. So three times, God calls out to Samuel. You'll notice that the first time Samuel runs to Eli. He's on alert. Why is Eli calling? What does he need? The next two times, he merely gets up and goes to Eli. The urgency has died down. We can guess he's confused, maybe even frustrated by the calls. But you'll notice that each time Samuel believes that

Eli is calling him, he obeys him, even when it's inconvenient, even when it's frustrating. And he goes to him in obedience, ready to do his bidding. Now this clearly comes in stark contrast to the chapter's previous, when Eli's biological sons disregard him, don't listen to him. Instead, they bring dishonor on their family and blaspheme against the Lord, condemning themselves to the judgment of God, that they would both die on the same day. Now Samuel here, he's different than the other leaders of Israel that we've seen. To his credit, Eli eventually realizes that it must be the Lord calling Samuel, so he instructs him on what to do when God calls again.

What's interesting here is that verse 7 told us that Samuel did not yet know the Lord. His word hadn't been revealed to him yet. This is telling us two things. One, Samuel does not yet have a personal relationship with God, but it's also referring to the fact that Samuel's not a prophet yet. God has not ordained him, not given him his word yet. It's helping us understand why Samuel's not understanding. This is the first time that God is going to prophetically speak to Samuel. He's not being disobedient for not knowing that it's God. He just doesn't know that it is the voice of God speaking to him. And so, when God calls again, this time Samuel answers him. Obedient to Eli's

instructions, he says, speak for your servant is listening. And the Lord said to Samuel, see, I am about to do something great in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle. At that time, I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family from beginning to end, for I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about. His sons blasphemed God, and he failed to restrain them. Therefore, I swore to the house of Eli, the guilt of Eli's house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering. Okay, so Samuel is now brought into the prophetic knowledge that because of their disobedience, Eli's sons and his house would face judgment. He's received his first word from the Lord. Now, the job of a prophet was to hear the word of the Lord and then share it with his people,

to instruct and teach the people to call them back to the Lord. And this is not an easy job. As we'll see, the prophets were given incredibly difficult messages to share with the people, but it was their job, their calling to faithfully obey God's word and convey it to the people. The next verse tell us that in this first revelation of God's word, Samuel is afraid. afraid to come face to face with Eli, afraid of what he will have to tell him. So Eli instead calls him to himself. And once again, Samuel, despite his fear, despite his hesitation, obeys him. Samuel answered, Here I am. What was it that he said to you, Eli asked? Do not hide it from me. May God deal with you be it ever so severely if you hide from me anything he told you.

So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Then Eli said, he is the Lord. Let him do what is good in his eyes. So once again, Samuel is obedient. This time, for the first time, is a prophet of God. The next verse confirms his new calling. The Lord is with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of Samuel's words fall to the ground.

And all Israel from Dan to Bersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord. The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel, through his word. None of Samuel's words fell to the ground, meaning all that he prophesied came to be true. He prophetically spoke only and all that God revealed to him. And because of that, Samuel was known to be a true prophet of the Lord, something that God will use to instruct and correct his people. Now what can we learn from this story? When we look at this chapter in its context, it turns out to be a crucial point in the story of God's people. The downward spiral of judges seems to continue in the

story of Eli and his sons. The word of the Lord is rare. And then we get to chapter three. God begins to speak again to his people and clearly. We know that Samuel is a reliable prophet. We know that not all hope is lost, that despite how bad it is and how bad it will get, that God is going to remain faithful to his people. He continues to step. He continues to step. into the mess and brokenness of the world, the sinfulness of his people, and he works to bring redemption out of it. And he often does that through the ordinary obedience of his people. In the middle of horrible evil, of a desperate need for God's word, the obedience of a young boy to hear and speak the word of the Lord offers hope. We'll see all the ways that God uses Samuel's

obedience in the chapters to come, but for now, we can be encouraged and challenged by his obedience. Even when it wasn't easy, even when it felt hard to speak the word of God, Samuel was obedient to his call. Now, I don't know where you're struggling to remain obedient to God today. I don't know the places where obedience doesn't come easy, where you want to ignore the inconvenient calls from God, where it may feel easier to roll over in bed and hope someone else. else wakes up and hears his call. Like, I really struggle to live an obedient life when it leads me into uncomfortable situations. I want to protect my own comfort. And so I tune out the commands I read in scripture that would call me to abandon my own comfort for the sake of building God's kingdom.

But here's the thing. To live an obedient life, you have to know God's commands. To know what kind of life He's asking you to live to know what it is that you're called to. And as amazing as it would be for God to wake you up tonight and sit before you and give you specific instructions, I don't think you should be holding out on obedience until that happens because it probably never will. See, God has already given you his word, living, breathing, active, useful for teaching and training. If you want to know what God has called you to, reach your Bible. If you want to know what an obedient life looks like, read your Bible. If you want to know what it looks like to build Jesus' kingdom, read your Bible.

Maybe that's the first step of obedience that we can all take today. To immerse ourselves in Scripture. To sit under His teaching, to hear from God, to allow His Word to speak into our lives once again, to give us hope. And as we do that, may we humbly submit ourselves to its authority. so that God can use our ordinary obedience today to bring redemption into the dark corners of this world.