Hey, awesome Superkids! It’s time to begin our list of all that we are thankful for, so I will start!
I am thankful for each of you and blessed to be the one who gets to write to you every month! I feel especially thankful today that we have an open door to not only come to Jesus, but to be able to cry out to Him when we are hurting, sad or needing help. As we learned last month, Hannah cried out to God to give her a son. She was so thankful when Samuel was born that she gave him to God by letting him serve the high priest Eli in the Temple. (You can read more about Hannah in last month’s Commander Kellie’s Corner.)
Before we pick up the story, I’ll remind you of what happened to me that prompted me to tell you about Samuel. The Lord woke me up earlier than normal. I said, “Lord, are You calling me?” I heard Him say, Yes. So, I got up and went to the couch, ready to hear what He had to say. When I sat down, I said, “Here I am.” He very quickly said back to me, Here I am. Then He said, So we are together. This is first, this is everything.
That struck me as familiar, and I remembered the story of Samuel.
As we pick up Samuel’s story in 1 Samuel 3:1-10 (GOD’S WORD Translation), keep in mind that he was 12 years old—just about your age.
“The boy Samuel was serving the LORD under Eli. In those days a prophecy from the LORD was rare; visions were infrequent. One night Eli was lying down in his room. His eyesight had begun to fail so that he couldn’t see well. The lamp in God’s temple hadn’t gone out yet, and Samuel was asleep in the temple of the LORD where the ark of God was kept. Then the LORD called Samuel. ‘Here I am,’ Samuel responded. He ran to Eli and said, ‘Here I am. You called me.’ ‘I didn’t call you,’ Eli replied. ‘Go back to bed.’ So, Samuel went back and lay down. The LORD called Samuel again. Samuel got up, went to Eli, and said, ‘Here I am. You called me.’ ‘I didn’t call you, son,’ he responded. ‘Go back to bed.’ Samuel had no experience with the LORD, because the Lord’s word had not yet been revealed to him. The Lord called Samuel a third time. Samuel got up, went to Eli, and said, ‘Here I am. You called me.’ Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. ‘Go, lie down,’ Eli told Samuel. ‘When He calls you, say, “Speak, LORD, I’m listening.” So Samuel went and lay down in his room. The LORD came and stood there. He called as He had called the other times: ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ And Samuel replied, ‘Speak. I’m listening.’”
Let’s look at some important details about this story.
The word of the Lord was rare! If God wasn’t speaking to many people in those days, why would He want to talk to a child?
The Ark of God was where they went to meet with God’s presence. Samuel slept near His presence. When you go to bed at night, remember that He lives inside you and that makes YOU the Ark!
Three times God called Samuel and three times Samuel heard God’s voice! Can you think of times when you may have heard God’s voice but didn’t know it was Him? Say to yourself now, “I hear God’s voice, every time He speaks!”
Samuel didn’t recognize that it was God because the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.
Eli was the one who revealed to Samuel that God was speaking to him! I am revealing to YOU that God is speaking to you!
God didn’t give up on calling Samuel just because he didn’t understand, but He continued to call him until it was clear to Samuel.
When Samuel knew it was God calling, he invited God to speak to Him, saying, “Speak, I am listening.” Have you invited God to speak to you? Are you ready to listen?
This encounter with the Almighty God, the One who speaks to children, changed Samuel’s life forever. Many times, we think of conversations with God being about what we might want or need. But if you read on in verses 11-18, you will find out that God wanted to talk to Samuel about His own desires and plans! He told Samuel some serious things about Eli and his disobedient, ungodly sons, and He trusted a 12-year-old boy to listen. The next day, Samuel obeyed when Eli asked what God had said, and told him all that God had said about him and his sons. Verse 19 says, “Samuel grew up. The LORD was with him and didn’t let any of his words go unfulfilled.”
God trusted Samuel and appointed him to speak for Him, and every word Samuel spoke came to pass. Even though the Word of God had been rare before, Samuel’s “Here I am. Speak, I am listening” became the open door for the word of the Lord to be heard by all.
Superkid, Jesus is calling you. Will you answer? This is everything….
Commander Kellie ♥
Download the November Commander Kellie’s Corner Here!