Obedient Servants

1 Samuel 3:9-13 NASB  And Eli said to Samuel, "Go lie down, and it shall be if He calls you, that you shall say, 'Speak, LORD, for Your servant is listening.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place.  (10)  Then the LORD came and stood and called as at other times, "Samuel! Samuel!" And Samuel said, "Speak, for Your servant is listening."  (11)  The LORD said to Samuel, "Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle.  (12)  "In that day I will carry out against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end.  (13)  "For I have told him that I am about to judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons brought a curse on themselves and he did not rebuke them.

1)    Obedient servants are active in God’s service.  Samuel proved to be reliable to God at an early age. As Eli became old and started to lose his sight, Samuel made sure the lamps burned in the tabernacle.

2)    Obedient servants listen to God.  Samuel thought it was Eli calling, but Eli knew it was God and told Samuel what to do.  Samuel heard God’s voice.  Do you hear when God speaks?  We can only hear God’s still small voice when we humble our hearts and yield to His will.

3)    Obedient servants accept unpleasant truth.  God told Samuel that He would deal with Eli’s sons.  God also said that when He dealt with Israel their ears would tingle.

4)    Obedient servants declare God’s judgments.  Samuel told Eli what God had said.  Eli had allowed sin to go unchecked in his children and God would deal with him and his house.