1 Samuel 3: Sure You Really Want to Hear? In ☧, Here He Is

Rev. Mark Femmel, pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in Maryland Heights, Missouri, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Samuel 3.

Have you ever wished that God would call out to you like He did to Samuel, so you could say “Speak, LORD, for your servant hears”? Be careful what you wish for. Chapter 3 shows that prophecy is a grave responsibility (especially when it’s overdue!), one that even Eli the High Priest shirked, to the peril of his whole family for generations. It means saying what no one wants to hear, sacrificing our own hopes & goals, and even disappointing our own family—something Eli could not do with his sons. Still, even with Eli, God is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Despite how we have ignored Him, God Himself shows up for us and says “Here I am, for you called me” through Christ. In Him, the true successor of Eli, we have greater access to God’s Word even than Samuel did.