Willing Ears

Listen from:
• BibleTruthPublishers.com
1 Samuel 3
This was the beginning of many revelations to Samuel. “Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none of His words fall to the ground.  ... And the Lord appeared again in Shiloh: for the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord” (1 Sam. 3:19,2119And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground. (1 Samuel 3:19)
21And the Lord appeared again in Shiloh: for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord. (1 Samuel 3:21)). Had the circumstances been normal, God would have spoken to the people in and through the high priest, according to His own appointment. But this being impossible, He spoke to and through the man with the willing ear. This is His way still. Our Lord said when giving utterance to His parables, “Who hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matt. 13:99Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. (Matthew 13:9)). Seven times in the addresses to the churches in Asia (Rev. 2-3) we meet with the words, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” This is clearly an individual thing. The mass in Christendom is more than ever indifferent to the will of the Lord, and the leaders in too many cases feed their followers with lies, for the predicted apostasy is ripening fast. But the man who has the willing ear will not fail to make advance in the knowledge of God and His Word, to his own deep blessing and to the spiritual advantage of all who are privileged to listen to his testimony. Each one of us might well pray, “O give me Samuel’s ear — the open ear, O Lord.”
The young prophet did not fail to get the respect of the people. To every exercised heart it became apparent that although God in His righteousness was judging the priesthood, He was not abandoning His people. In the sovereignty of His love, He had established a new link between Himself and them in the person of Hannah’s firstborn. “All Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord” (1 Sam. 3:2020And all Israel from Dan even to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord. (1 Samuel 3:20)).
In his subsequent ministry of intercession, Samuel is remarkably reminiscent of Moses (Jer. 15:11Then said the Lord unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth. (Jeremiah 15:1)), and as the forerunner of the rightful King he is equally suggestive of John the Baptist.
W. W. Fereday (adapted)