SAMUEL was just a little lad when he came to the temple—about the size, perhaps, of the very smallest boy in your Sunday School. His mother brought him to live with old Eli the high priest, and there he learned what a little boy could do in the service of the temple. Perhaps he brought the golden snuffers, sometimes, while Eli pinched the blackened wick from the seven-branched candlestick. He must have learned many little things from old Eli, but he was only a little boy, and he did not yet know the Lord.
One night, when all were quiet in bed, Samuel heard a voice calling him by name. He answered "Here am I," and ran at once to Eli, but it was not Eli's voice. Eli told him to lie down again. A second time he heard the call and ran to Eli's room, but Eli answered, "I called not, my son; lie down again." A third time he heard a voice saying, "Samuel." When Eli saw the little boy come to him the third time,
he understood that the Lord was calling him, so he told him to lie down and listen; and if he heard the voice, he was to say, "Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth."
Samuel obeyed, and the Lord spoke to him, telling him plainly that the old man Eli must be punished because his sons were disobedient. Samuel listened and remembered. In the morning, he rose up and opened the doors of the house of the Lord, but he did not like to tell Eli what he had heard. However, when Eli asked him he did tell him, and Eli listened sadly. He had to learn what we also must learn, that it is God's way that parents should punish children when they are bad. Eli scolded his children, but scolding is not enough. Punishing hurts, but it is God's way and that is why it ought to be done.
Samuel grew taller every year, and his mother, who came once a year to see him and bring him a little coat, must have found that it had to be a little wider and longer each time. The little boy learned to be a great and useful man, and he spoke wonderful words to God's people, but first he learned to listen to the voice of God when he was just a little boy. Would you, boys and girls, like to be useful to the Lord when you grow up? Then learn now, while you are small, to listen to the voice of God.
You have not heard God speaking as Samuel did, but He speaks to us today through His Holy Word, the Bible. You will find in its pages, many messages for you. Listen and remember, as Samuel did, for His Word is the only guide to teach us the path in which we should walk.
Messages of God’s Love 2/6/1949