Face to Face With Jesus - a Lenten MeditationSample

A little boy alone in a temple dedicated to God full-time and mentored by an older priest. That’s the setting in which God first spoke to Samuel. He grew into a mighty prophet of the Lord, so powerful that none of his words fell to the ground. The meaning behind that is probably because he had an ear that was tuned to God’s voice, everything he spoke was given to him by God so there was no scope for those words to be useless or ineffective. Isn’t that amazing? Samuel’s work wasn’t easy because he ministered to a people who were wayward in heart. They eventually told him that they wanted a king. What they didn’t say but fully intended was that they no longer wanted the word of God from Samuel’s mouth for instruction and guidance. They wanted someone who would lead them in battle and rule over them like all the surrounding nations. They wanted to be like others when God wanted them set apart.

God assures Samuel even as he walked through that rejection, that they were rejecting Him and not Samuel. Samuel goes on to do as God instructs and anoints Saul as Israel’s first king but not without first giving them statutory warning of what a king would require of them. Samuel had honed his listening skills over his whole life and so he was never out of touch with the Spirit of God.

Questions to ask yourself:

What are you asking of God that is clearly not in His will for you?

How tuned are you to the voice of the Holy Spirit?

Have you allowed the Holy Spirit access to your emotions so that he can help you feel them and release what’s not necesssary?