1 Samuel 03: The Beginning of Fellowship

“The book of 1 Samuel focuses on three characters: Samuel, Saul, and David. A poem near the start of the book reveals the book's key themes: God’s opposition to the proud, exultation of the humble, faithfulness in spite of evil, and the promise of a messianic king.

These themes are played out through the rest of the book as we see Saul rise to power, only to have his character flaws exposed as he disobeys God’s command. In contrast, God raises up David, a humble shepherd who trusts God. As the story progresses, we see these two characters in increasingly stark contrast. Saul slips into madness as David resolutely trusts in God’s timing and purposes.” From theBibleProject

Overall Theme: God’s Providence Despite Human Silliness.

Key Verse: (1 Samuel 12:24) Be sure to fear the Lord and faithfully serve him. Think of all the wonderful things he has done for you. If you continue to sin, you and your king will be swept away.

Outline:

1- God raises up Samuel  as prophet and judge (1 Sa 1–7).

2- Israel demands a king: Saul (1 Sa 8–15).

3- God raises up David to be king of Israel (1 Sa 16–20).

4- Saul hunts David out of jealousy (1 Sa 21–31).

Let’s read it together.

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The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT).
Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome & Daily Bible Breakdown
• 0:24 1 Samuel 3 Setup & Theme
• 1:50 Old Testament Stories as Guides
• 2:55 Hannah, Eli’s Sons, and Context
• 4:15 Samuel Hears God’s Voice
• 6:36 Eli Realizes and Instructs
• 8:13 The Hard Message to Eli
• 9:45 Samuel Confirmed as Prophet
• 11:20 Trusting God’s Providence

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:01

Hey everyone and welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast. In this podcast, we will be breaking down the Bible one chapter a day. Whether you are a new believer or have been following Christ for a while, we believe that you will learn something new and fresh every single day. So thank you for joining us and let's get into breaking down the Bible together.

SPEAKER_01: 0:23

Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, Pastor Brandon. Today, 1 Samuel chapter 3. And if I were to give this one a title, it would be The Beginning of Fellowship. It's an amazing story we're going to read today, and I love it so very much. This was actually one of the very first passages of scripture I used when I preached one of my very first messages. And I can't wait for us to read it together. But as always, if you like what we're doing here, make sure you like, share, subscribe to the YouTube channel, leave us a comment, let us know how you're engaging with God's word. Leave us a five-star review on the podcast, and make sure you come to where we're all rallying together at the Facebook discussion group, that the Bible breakdown discussion, where we are coming together, we're letting God's Word speak to us. And man, the more we dig, the more we find. And that is definitely going to be the case in the book of Samuel. As I've been telling you before, the idea of the way the Old Testament is to be read is it doesn't always tell us do this and don't do this, but it tells us stories of what happened in people's lives. And then from that, and we can see how God moved in their life, we can see how God wants us to move in our life. And we can see as well, the overall theme of Samuel is that God's providence happens despite our silliness. God's gonna do what he's gonna do even when other people get in the way. And we can see how this is gonna happen. It's gonna, you know, start to take a little bit of shape today because Hannah has a baby in chapter one. And she ends up giving that baby to the church to say, I want you to raise this person, this little little guy right here, raise my little boy to be a man of God. I'm gonna give him back to you. Well, in chapter two, we see the reason why was because Eli, the priest's sons, Hophne and Phineas, they were rascals, man. They were they were scoundrels, they were doing all the bad stuff. And so there's that was actually a reason. We didn't have a clue why this would happen, but now we're starting to see the reason. Now we're beginning to see that even despite all that silliness and chaos, God was positioning things for the right way. And so we're gonna read 1 Samuel chapter 3, if you've got your Bibles and get ready, and we're gonna see how God begins to speak to Samuel. And my question for you to linger on here is is it possible that even though things happen in our life sometimes we don't understand, is it possible that those things can't stop God from doing what he wants to do in our lives? Though the answer from God may come seemingly from left field to us, he knows all the time what he's doing. Let's read this together, 1 Samuel chapter 3, and let's see what God's Word will say to us today. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel served the Lord by assisting Eli. Now, in those days, messages from the Lord were very rare, and visions were quite uncommon. One night Eli, who was almost blind by now, had gone to bed, and the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was sleeping in the tabernacle near the ark of God. Suddenly the Lord called out, Samuel. Well, pause real quick. The lamp of God had not gone out. What that means is inside the tabernacle, especially in the holy place, there would be fires set up so that the area could be illuminated. And so the job of a lot of the priests would be to go and to keep those flames going. And so what it was saying is those wouldn't get close to being out until late into the evening. So it was saying it was still early into the evening. So maybe they say between eight and ten o'clock. We don't know that for sure, but it's saying earlier on into the evening. The Lord called out, Samuel. Yes, Samuel replied. What is it? And he got up and he ran to Eli. Here I am, did you call me? No, I didn't call you, Eli replied. Go on back to bed. So he did. Then the Lord called out again, Samuel. Again, Samuel got up and went to Eli. Here I am, did you call me? I didn't call you, my son, Eli said. Go back to bed. Samuel did not yet know that the Lord didn't know the Lord, because he had not ever had a message from the Lord before. So the Lord called a third time, and once more Samuel got up and he went to Eli. Here I am, did you call me? It then Eli realized it was the Lord who was calling the boy. So he said to Samuel, Go and lie down again, and if someone calls to you again, say, Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. So Samuel went back to bed, and the Lord came and called as before. Samuel, Samuel! Samuel replied, Speak, Lord, your servant is listening. Then the Lord said to Samuel, I am about to do a shocking thing in Israel. I am going to carry out all my threats against Eli and his family from beginning to end. I have warned him that judgment is coming upon his family forever, because his sons are blaspheming God, and he hasn't disciplined them. So I have vowed that the sins of Eli and his sons will never be forgiven by sacrifices or offerings. Samuel stayed in bed until morning. And when he got up and he opened the doors of the tabernacle as usual, he was afraid to tell Eli that the Lord, what the Lord had said to him. So, pause for a moment. What happens is, is God starts to speak to Samuel, but Samuel has never heard the voice of God. So he thought it was somebody else talking to him. And can you imagine old Eli going, Wow boy, done got crazy. Go on back to bed. But finally, the third time, he starts to realize maybe, maybe God's up to something. And so then God, what he actually does is he tells Samuel the same thing that Eli had heard in the chapter before. And I think that's very important because you know it was going to ratify to Eli what God was actually saying. And Samuel didn't know that, but he was about to find out. But can you imagine if you're praying for somebody and God gives you a warning for them? You imagine what happens next time you see them? Hey, look, God didn't say y'all about to die. I wouldn't want to be that guy either. So you can imagine the next morning. Samuel was like, I do not want to tell Eli that he and all his family are about to be in the dead. So can y'all give me something else to do where I can maybe like not be in the same room with him? And that's kind of what happens as we see. It says, He was doing the things he was before, but he was afraid to tell Eli what the Lord had said to him. Of course. Verse 16. But Eli called to him, Samuel, my son, here I am, Samuel replied. What did the Lord say to you? Tell me everything, and may God strike you and even kill you if you hide anything from me. Well, so Samuel told Eli everything. He didn't hold back anything. It is the Lord's will, Eli replied. Let him do what he thinks best. As Samuel grew up, the Lord was with him, and everything Samuel said proved to be reliable. And all Israel, from Dan to the north of Bathsheba in the south, they all knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord, and the Lord continued to appear at Shiloh and gave messages to Samuel there at the tabernacle. So, as we can see, God has started a relationship with Samuel, and you gotta respect Eli. When Eli hears this bad news, he says, The Lord have his way. I don't want this, of course, but the Lord's gonna do what the Lord's gonna do, so may the Lord have his way. Well, that's pretty brave, and it's a wonderful lesson for all of us. When you hear of something, trust the Lord. When you hear his voice, like Samuel did, trust what he's saying. When you hear from someone else, if it's the Lord, trust the Lord. Trust the Lord that he is gonna do what is right and what is good. Now, in Eli's case, he was trusting the Lord despite something terrible. And we never want that kind of thing to happen to us, but it is important to realize the lesson that Eli is saying here, and that is God is gonna do what God is gonna do. He said, It is the Lord's will, let him do what he thinks best. And I want to encourage you today. Maybe you're going through a season right now where you feel like God's not speaking to you. Maybe God is speaking to you. But maybe instead of waiting for him, you keep looking for other people. I know I've done this in my life before. I want God to speak to me so bad that I go to somebody else. Hey, do you have a word for me? Hey, does this preacher have a word for me? Hey, have y'all got something to say to me? But instead, what Eli finally told Samuel is Samuel, stop looking for everybody else. Instead, when you get to that place, ask the Lord to speak to you and then listen to what he has to say. One of the best ways we can hear God speak to us is by what we're doing right now. And that's reading God's word. Just reading and soaking God's word. And then when he speaks to us, we do what he says. And then maybe for somebody else to say, if maybe you're going through a season when it seems like bad things are happening and you really don't want bad things to happen. Can I tell you? Be like Eli and say, I'm gonna trust that this is God's will. I'm gonna just let him do what he thinks is best. Now, that's easy to say when you're going through a good season. Lord, hey, you keep on blessing me. It's not so easy when things are difficult. But can I tell you, you can trust the Lord that what his best is, is also what's best for you. I don't know how God is speaking to you in this today, but what I can tell you is, is that God's providence moves despite man's silliness. So even when things look crazy all around you, God never gets nervous, he never gets flustered, he never gets discouraged, he never you know, he never gives up, he never does that stuff. He always knows what he's doing, and he's gonna lead you in the right direction if you just keep trusting him. Let's pray together. God, thank you so much for today. Thank you that you are with us and you're for us and always. Lord, I'm thankful for the beginnings of fellowship. That's my prayer for everyone who is part of this podcast today. That Lord will move beyond the beginnings and we'll move into a fellowship with you. It's got to start somewhere, but then let it grow. Let us grow in our relationship with you. Let us grow in our trust of you. That even when we don't always understand everything around us, we choose to trust you anyway. I love you, God. Thank you for loving us the way you do. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Don't forget God's word says in 1 Samuel chapter 12, be sure to fear the Lord and faithfully serve him. Think of all the wonderful things he has done for you. Remember to trust the Lord because he is with you more than you realize, and he is moving despite the silliness of other people. Trust him, he's with you. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for 1 Samuel chapter four.