So we’ve been camped out in the book of 1 Samuel for a couple of days now, launching into one of the best known stories in all of scripture with King David, but I personally love how the book starts.

“Now in those days messages from the Lord were very rare, and visions were quite uncommon.” 1 Samuel 3:1 NLT

I find this little inclusion to be fascinating. It is the introduction to a story about how God’s voice came to Samuel the prophet long before he was the respected prophet of the Lord. The setting of the book of Samuel, which is divided in two now as the video below shows, comes after the time of the judges. Israel is a divided group of tribes waiting to be unified into a nation. Before they clamor for a king, God gives Israel a leader that they didn’t know they needed in Samuel. In those days, the people’s hunger for unity and hope for the future was starting to rise, and although they thought human leadership was the answer, God broke his time of silence and began to speak.

Samuel was the first prophet that God used in this way, and over the coming months we will see how the prophets had the uneasy task of representing the Word of the Lord in a culture that knew they needed change but didn’t turn to the Lord. Does this sound familiar to anyone else? We also have the task of representing the word of the Lord in a culture that isn’t willing to accept it. I wonder if we might learn something from the story of Samuel… not the aged and wise prophet, but the young boy who “did not yet know the Lord.”

From his birth, Samuel was dedicated to the Lord. He had a radical purpose in God’s eyes that required him to follow after God in radical ways. Because of this dedication to God, Samuel had open ears and a heart that was all in. If we’re living in a culture that doesn’t know God, and we’re living in a time when the Word of the Lord is rare, or maybe choked by the abundance of distraction, we need to begin to posture our hearts to be all in like Samuel.

I’d encourage you to go back and read the story of when God calls to Samuel in 1 Samuel 3, but let’s skip to the end and see the Lord’s intention for calling Samuel.

Then the Lord said to Samuel, “I am about to do a shocking thing in Israel.” 1 Samuel 3:11 NLT

We know that God shook things up in a pretty severe way, getting the attention of the people and beginning to challenge them to draw near. The visions and messages from God may have been quiet for a while, but maybe he was just waiting for a heart that was dedicated to him.

It seems God was always ready to do a new thing among his people, and I would challenge you – are you ready for the new thing God wants to do? I know I have a long way to go spiritually to prepare my heart for God-size shake-ups or “shocking things.” I think if we’re honest that scares most of us. We’re more like, “Let’s do a comfortable and generous thing God… let’s leave shocking things somewhere else.” Let’s begin to look to God’s leading and not just for others to figure things out for us. Let’s be a tribe that’s ALL IN on what our eternal king desires and prepare our hearts for him to move.

– Pastor Ryan