Contemplative Bible Reading

1 Samuel 3:10 (New Living Translation)

10 And the Lord came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!”

And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening.”

This is part of the (hi)story of Samuel the prophet. Samuel is still a boy at this time, yet God speaks directly to Samuel and tells Samuel about the evil actions of Eli the priest and Eli’s sons.

Tell a boy that the adults are misbehaving? This is all backwards and just plain wrong. Still, it is right and righteous. Later the text states, “20 And all Israel, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south, knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord. 21 The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh and gave messages to Samuel there at the Tabernacle.”

Sometimes God speaks directly to some children. Here it is in front of us in plain language. But uh, well, this was long ago in a galaxy far, far away and all that, right? This doesn’t happen anymore, right? Maybe? Possibly? Probably?

I don’t know the answers to these questions. Let those who have discussed these things for centuries continue to discuss them. I see where things that don’t make sense to me make sense to God. Once again, I’m not God and I don’t understand it all. Praise be to God, and God, please help me in my unbelief.