Samuel

I was what you might call a “miracle baby.”

My mom couldn’t have a baby. She was teased because other women had babies, but she had none. She prayed and prayed and prayed. Then priests teased her because she prayed so hard.

But God heard her. And he gave her me. She named me Samuel, which sounds like the Hebrew word for “heard of God.”

My mom really loved me, but she couldn’t keep me. She had made a vow to God, saying, “O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life.”

After nursing me for about a year, my mom took me to the house of the LORD at Shiloh and gave me to God. I grew up at Shiloh, and Eli the priest took care of me. Of course, God is my Father, but Eli was sort of like my dad. He taught me to serve God, and I grew up there, worshiping the LORD.

One night, when I was eleven years old, I had gone to bed in the tabernacle. I heard Eli call my name, so I jumped up and ran into the room where he slept. “Here I am,” I said.

But Eli looked confused. He said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So I did.

But then I heard it again. Again I ran to Eli and said, “Here I am.”

Again Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So I did.

And a third time I heard my name. Again I ran to Eli and said, “Here I am.”

But this time Eli said, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.’”

I went back to the tabernacle and laid down, but I couldn’t fall asleep. I was much too excited. I lay in the dark for what felt like weeks, waiting for the voice. Waiting.

Then I heard it. “Samuel! Samuel!” said the voice.

I sat straight up. “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

And the voice came pouring out of the night. My excitement turned to dread as the voice of the LORD delivered to me a message of judgment and contempt for Eli’s family for the sins his sons had committed. I said nothing in response. When the voice finished, I sat in the silence. I didn’t move until sunrise when I had to get up and fulfill my duties.

As I opened the doors of the house of the LORD, Eli – my friend, my guardian, my dad – said to me, “What was it he said to you? Do not hide it from me.” So I told him everything. And I cried.

Eli, ever my caring dad, held me in his arms and said, “He is the LORD; let him do what is good in his eyes.” It was hard to understand, but I knew that Eli was right. God is good. And at that moment I decided that if God was good, then I wanted to hear all of the words of the LORD.

As I grew up in the house of the LORD, this became my constant prayer:

Speak LORD, for your servant is listening.

1 Samuel 1-3