1 Samuel 3:1

Then the boy Samuel ministered to the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation.

1 Samuel 3:1

Samuel went to live with the priest Eli from about the age of 4 or 5, learning to serve the Lord there in the tabernacle. Here at the beginning of Chapter 3 we read about him in his early teens, where it says, “The boy Samuel ministered to the LORD before Eli.” Now we aren’t told exactly what he did or how her served, but there was plenty to do there, and I would imagine it was mostly manual labor — gathering wood for the offerings, polishing the Menorah, and filling the lamps with oil. Not the most high-profile jobs I’m sure, but God doesn’t look at the job as much as He looks at the heart, and Samuel’s heart honored God so we read that he “ministered to the Lord before Eli” and not that he ministered to Eli before the Lord.

He was faithful to serve the Lord in the little things, so God was honored, and God would give him many other opportunities to serve. He served not only as a judge in Israel but a prophet as well, who would faithfully speak the word of the Lord to a nation who was in rebellion to God. 

So be faithful and serve the Lord with your whole heart in the opportunities He has given to you, because we live in a world that desperately needs to hear from the Lord.

Pastor Doug Hardin