The call of Samuel has always been exciting and significant regarding how God calls people for His work. If you were a regular person in Sunday School, his call would be a very popular one for you. Hannah, the mother of Samuel, dedicated him to the service of God even before he was born. Samuel was dedicated to work in the temple of God even before his birth. Samuel’s call also shows the importance of obeying God and serving him with total devotion.
Paul does not mince his words in his first letter to the Corinthians,
“Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.”(1 Corinthians 6:13).
Paul admonishes all of us to be spiritual and that we must not allow the desires of the flesh to overtake our spirituality; instead, we should put away the lust of the flesh because our body is for the Lord and the Lord for the body.
In the gospel, John gives a testimony about Jesus Christ, saying, “Behold the Lamb of God”, so two of his disciples approached Jesus and followed him. When Jesus saw them, he asked them what they wanted, and their answer was to know the dwelling place of Jesus. This was the beginning of their journey to becoming the disciple of Jesus Christ. This journey of following Jesus begins at a point but never ends. Samuel dedicated his entire life to God and his service, fulfilling the LORD’s call upon his life.
Dear people of God, Samuel lived an upright life that is based on total commitment and dedication. Samuel was lying in the sanctuary of the LORD when God called him. He was not just there but doing the work of God in the sanctuary because the golden lampstand in the Holy Place is replenished with oil in the morning and evening. Samuel slept by these lamps in the Holy place, and the Ark of The Covenant was in the Holy of Holies, and it was a curtain that separated where he was sleeping from the Holy of Holies.
The call of God comes to people who are always in tune with God and have dedicated their bodies to God Almighty. Biblical historians believe that Samuel was around 14 when this call of God came to him. He was just a boy, yet God saw it appropriate to call him to work for him. This shows us the importance of allowing the young in the assembly to play their part in the house of God because God can also use them to make the world a better place.
God called Samuel three times, and all the time, he went to Eli because, at that time, he did not yet know the LORD, and at that stage, the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. Samuel went to Eli when God called because he had no experience. We all need some training and learning in every new thing, even when God calls us, and our mentors and teachers will be those who have been there before. In our journey with the Lord, we must avail ourselves to spiritual direction and training. After going to Eli for the third time, Eli realized that God was calling him, so he told him what to do when God called again.
God has called each of us in different ways and capacities, but several things run through all the calling. Our calling demands righteousness, obedience, dedication and total devotion to God and his purpose for our lives. The one called by God listens to no other person but God and is guided by the guiding principles of God; the one called by God understands spirituality and seeks to encourage others to be spiritual.
My dear Christian friends, God has called us to be righteous; therefore, we must avoid fornication. When the epistle says, “flee fornication”, we must see it as a command and not something optional, and this includes all kinds of immoral acts. We are part of the body of Christ, and if these immoral acts consume us, we will not be considered part of Christ because when we are saved, we are saved holistically, including body, soul, and spirit. This makes us members of the body of Christ united in the Holy Spirit; therefore, any act that defiles the body creates a gap between God and us.
We have been called to bring others to the fold. When the two disciples of John went with Jesus, they stayed with him for the rest of that day, and Andrew, who went to stay with Jesus, went to his brother and gave testimony about Jesus that he had seen the Messiah and took Simon to Jesus. Dear friends, we must also tell our family, friends, and people we come across about Jesus and his saving power. We have been called to multiply, and we must all play our part to add to the body of Christ. AMEN