Sunday, October 5, 2008
1 Samuel 3v7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD : The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.When I first read that verse, I was thinking: How on EARTH can Samuel not know the Lord? I mean come on, the boy has been serving at God's temple with Eli ever since he was a toddler, how could he not know the God he was making sacrifices unto?
But then, I read it again and then I understood. It's so pure and simple.
You see, what the scripture meant by: "Samuel did not yet know the Lord" was that yes, Samuel knew OF God. Oh yeah, he knew he served a God that desired sacrifices from His people, that was holy, that saved his own ancestors from Egypt etc. BUT Sam didn't know God PERSONALLY.
You see, there's a difference between knowing of someone and knowing someone personally. For eg., say I know OF Girl A. I know that she's pretty, smart, is studying in Melbourne University, is friendly, helpful, loving. But you see, if I don't know her personally, well then I wouldn't get to EXPERIENCE her character. I wouldn't get to get a REVELATION of her loving nature. I wouldn't get to know the feeling of being helped in my studies by her.
And that's exactly what Samuel was experiencing: he had not gotten a personal experience with God, he had not had a revelation of God's many sides of character as proven by the part of the Scripture that goes: "The word of God had not yet been revealed to him."
You see, sometimes that's just like me. I dunno about you, but I know sometimes I am contented with knowing that God is a God of providence, of love, of unparalled forgiveness, of mercy, of grace. But why should I be contented with just knowing OF His character? Especially when I have nothing standing in my way to ask Him for a revelation of His personality? During my day in university, when I'm walking to the nearest shop?
But you see, the most important key point in this whole thing is that I will never get an experience of His character unless I ASK FOR IT.
v10 The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, "Samuel! Samuel!" Then Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant is listening."
11 And the LORD said to Samuel...You see, God didn't force Himself on Samuel. He didn't say: Okay, Samuel, I wanna tell you something so I don't care if you wanna listen, I'm just gonna say it anyway. No, instead what He did was keep calling him , and calling and calling until Samuel finally said: Tell me, Lord. And that was then God started to speak.
It's the same with us really. God keeps whispering: Come on, I want to show you how much I love you. I want to show you how I can provide. I want to share with you the wonderful dreams I have for your love. All you need to do is say Yes to me. He's always wanting to speak to us, it's always us who doesn't want to listen to Him.
So, are you allowing God to speak to you today? Or are you just saying No and shutting the door?
She thanks her Jesus at 9:34 PM
