DAY 18: GOD CHOSE SAMUEL

 THE RHEMA WORD FOR TODAY

(A DAILY DEVOTIONAL WITH PREACHER SAM)

 

TOPIC: GOD CHOSE SAMUEL

DATE: 18 SEPTEMBER, 2020

BIBLE READING: 1 SAMUEL 3

MEDITATION/MEMORY VERSE: 1 SAMUEL 3:19 (NIV)

The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground.

 

From our Bible reading, we understand that God chose Samuel. The reason for this was because of Hannah, his mother’s vow to dedicate him as a Nazarite unto God (1 Sam. 1:11). And being faithful to her words, she dedicated the child unto the service of God (1 Sam. 1:22-28). The Bible did not tell us when this little lad was taken to serve in the house of God, but we were told that it was when he was weaned. And a child is weaned between 2-4 years, so it is most likely that Samuel was taken to the house of God between 2-4 years. And Bible history has taught us that he was eleven years old when God called him.

At the time when God first called Samuel, the word of God was rare and visions were uncommon. The same problem during the days of Gideon (Judg. 6). And Eli never taught Samuel the practice of the presence of God, but Samuel was practising the presence of God ignorantly (1 Sam. 3:3), that was why he could not decipher and discern the voice of God when God called him (1 Sam. 3:4-5). So God kept on calling him once (1 Sam. 3:4, 6, 8), until Eli discovered that it was God calling him and taught him what to do when next he hears the voice again (1 Sam. 3:8-9). Now, Samuel was taught what to say, and this time, God did not call him once, but twice (1 Sam. 3:10). The first call was a wakeup call; a call to revival. Israel lacked a prophet that would tell the mind of God (1 Sam. 3:1, 20; Ps. 74:9). And this little lad had been practising the presence of God though in ignorance- a qualification of a true prophet of God. So God had to choose Samuel.

Samuel was first chosen to be Israel’s priest and judge. But because of his faithfulness even before his inauguration, and his practice of the presence of God, God chose him for another purpose- to be Israel’s prophet and a teacher who would raise other prophets in Israel. So the second call was a call to duty (we’ve discussed on a believer’s twofold calling last year devotional).

You may wonder how Samuel practised the presence of God. Well, he did that when he constantly slept in the Tabernacle near the Ark of God (1 Sam. 3:3). To understand this, let’s travel back to Exodus.

 

Exodus 25:21, 22 NKJV

You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you. And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the cherubim which are on the ark of Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.

 

The ark is placed in the holy of holies, where the manifest presence of God is strongly felt in the Tabernacle. The mercy seat is above the ark where the Law is (Ex. 40:20). And above the mercy seat is the cherubim, where God will meet and speak with man, just like the way He did to Samuel.

The mercy seat is between the cherubim and the ark. And the Bible says in Hebrews 4:16, ‘Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.’ We obtain mercy and find grace at the throne of grace. This mercy we obtain and grace we find are in Jesus, and the mercy seat is seen also as a mediator- so is our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 12:24). And we can only approach the Father only through him (Jn. 14:6). So the cherubim signifies God the Father.

And below the mercy seat, we have the ark that has the law. This signifies man. So above us, we have a mediator to the Father- that is the practice of the presence of God. But something was very vital; ‘The lamp of God had not yet gone put…’ This signifies the Spirit of God. We should constantly be in fellowship with the Spirit of God, who carries the manifest presence of God.

God chose Samuel for this purpose- to carry the presence of God as a true prophet of God. And unlike Samson, he carried out his assignment faithfully at a very young age.

No matter how young you are, God can use you to birth revival in your community. God can choose you for something great if you’re faithful to what you’re doing presently.

 

Luke 16:10 ERV

Whoever can be trusted with small things can also be trusted with big things. Whoever is dishonest in little things will be dishonest in big things too.

 

DECLARATION: WITH GOD’S HELP, I AM FAITHFUL TO WHAT GOD HAS TRUSTED ME WITH. AND I PRACTICE THE PRESENCE OF GOD BY THE HELP OF HIS SPIRIT AT WORK IN ME!

 

FURTHER STUDY: 1 SAMUEL 9