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I Samuel 3:15-18, Samuel lay down until morning and then opened the doors of the house of the Lord. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision, but Eli called him and said, “Samuel, my son.” Samuel answered, “Here I am.”

“What was it he said to you?” Eli asked. “Do not hide it from me. May God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything he told you.” So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Then Eli said, “He is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes.”

In this chapter, we see the transition between Samuel as boy to Samuel as prophet. God calls Samuel multiple times but Samuel doesn’t know where the voice is coming from.  It doesn’t immediately dawn on Eli, the priest, either that the voice belongs to God.  We can kind of see how far Eli has drifted from God by his lack of insight.  By the third time God calls Samuel, Eli realizes that it is the voice of the Lord.  He tells Samuel to go back to bed and answer God, telling God that his servant is listening.

Samuel heads back to bed and this time when God calls him, Samuel responds that he is listening.  God reveals to young Samuel how he plans to basically eliminate the house of Eli.  Eli and his descendants will face severe consequences for the sins of Eli’s sons and for Eli’s lack of discipline, as he failed to hold his sons accountable for their deplorable actions against God.  Essentially Eli put his boys before God, breaking the first commandment. 

In the morning, Eli asks Samuel about the vision.  You can only imagine Samuel’s hesitation at sharing this information with the priest who raised him.  I’m sure that Samuel loved Eli.  How very difficult it is to be brutally honest with those we love, especially if we know it will hurt them and cause pain.  And yet, Eli insisted and Samuel told him everything that would occur.  There seems to be a kind of resignation about Eli; Eli knows that he has sinned, that his children sinned, and he accepts the consequence.  What’s interesting is that he doesn’t fight it or defend himself.  He says “He is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes.”  In the end, Eli’s faith is strong.  If God has made this decision, then it must be just.

Have you ever been in a position in which you were forced to share a hard truth with someone you love?  What was that experience like?  I’ve had a lot of hard conversations with people I care about.  I think it’s something that requires practice but more than anything, it requires prayer.  At times, I’ve begged God for just the right words, His words and not mine, and that the other person would have eyes to see and ears to hear.  On the flip side, I’ve also had people speak hard truth to me.  Maybe you’ve been there too.  That also requires a lot of prayer and a lot of humility.  Being willing to share truth also means being open to hearing it.  Hard stuff, friends.

Let’s pray…Lord Jesus, More of you and less of me.  In Your Name, Amen.