TONY & MICHELLE PAWLAK
MEMORY VERSE
"Speak, for your servant is listening,"
I Samuel 3:10b
Ever wonder what God sounds like? Is His voice strong, gentle, deep? Would you recognize it if you heard it? DO you think that God would ever talk to you? Sometimes we think that we're not important or holy enough for God to speak to us. However, God will speak to whoever He wants to, right?
Last week we learned about the birth of the prophet Samuel, Israel's last judge, and how he was raised by Eli the High Priest. Eli also had two sons of his own that were also priests, Hophni and Phinehas. You would think that the sons of the
High Priest would be good and godly men, right. Absolutely Not! Both men were very wicked.
When people would come to the Tabernacle to offer sacrifices to God, the meat would be boiled first to separate the meat from the
fat. While the meat was being boiled, the priests were supposed to stick a three-pronged fork into the water and, whatever meat came up on the fork, they were allowed to eat. This was how God made sure the priests were always fed. Hophni and Phinehas were not satisfied with this system. They liked their meat roasted. They decided to send a servant to the people
offering sacrifices to take the best meat before it was boiled. If the people didn't want to disobey God like this, then the servant would threaten to take it by force! This was stealing from God and it made God very angry.
When Eli heard of these things, he confronted his sons but they would not listen. Unfortunately, Eli did nothing to stop their wickedness. God sent a prophet to speak to Samuel telling him that, because Eli did not stop his sons from sinning, that He would put a terrible curse on his whole family and no men in his family would ever live long enough to grow old. So that Eli would know that the prophet's words were true, he told Eli that both of his sons would die on the same day.
One night, while young Samuel was sleeping in the
Tabernacle, he heard a voice calling him, "Samuel." Thinking that it was Eli calling him, Samuel got up and went to where Eli was and said, "Here I am. You called me.. "I did not call you. Go back and lay down." Eli said. So Samuel
went back to bed. Then he heard the voice again, "Samuel." So he went back to Eli and said, "Here I am. You called me." "I didn't call you. Go back to bead. " Eli said again. This happened a third time and Samuel insisted that Eli called him. Eli finally figured out that Samuel was hearing the voice of God
calling him. "Go back to bed," Eli said, "And when you hear the voice again say 'Speak, for your servant is listening.'"
Samuel obeyed and went back to bed. When he heard the voice again he said, "Speak, for your servant is listening." The God said to Samuel, “See, I am about to do
something 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."
The next morning, Eli asked Samuel what God had said to
him. Samuel was too afraid to tell Eli such bad news but Eli said, "Tell me everything or God will deal with you severely!" So Samuel told Eli everything and Samuel said, "He is the Lord, let Him do what He knows is right."
Later on, Israel was battling the Philistines and losing badly.
Someone thought it was a good idea to bring the Ark of the Covenant into battle so that God's presence would be with Israel. So Hophni and Phinehas carried the Ark onto the battlefield. This was disastrous because both were killed and the Philistines stole the Ark. So, Hophni and Phinehas both died on the same day just like God had said.
Did you know that it is a parent's job to make sure you do the right thing? That is the responsibility that God gave them. So, the next time you get punished for doing something bad, remember that they are only doing what God commanded. As for young Samuel, he grew to be one of Israel's greatest prophets. Think about it, God chose to speak to Samuel when he was only a young boy. Keep listening, you never know when God may choose to speak to you.
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