The Word of God Was Precious Dean Kelly “And the child Samuel ministered unto the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was precious in those days; there was no open vision” (1 Samuel 3:1 KJV). There are times in the Old Testament where God is recorded as speaking often to a man, such as Moses or one of the great prophets, like Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Ezekiel. On the other hand, there were times when God did not speak directly to anyone for long periods of time. The events recorded in 1 Samuel 3 are at one of those times. The word translated “precious” is often translated “rare” (NKJV, ESV). When something good is rare, that makes it seem so much more precious. In the following verses of this chapter, inspiration records God calling to Samuel, and his consistent answer, “Here I am.” Later, in Isaiah 6:8, Isaiah is called by God: “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.” Notice the reaction of both of these godly people. “Here am I.” From these concepts I would make the following observations: First, the Word of God should never be rare anymore. God has revealed His will through the pages of the inspired Scriptures. There is no excuse anymore for the word to be “rare.” Only through our negligence will it be rare. To me, it is so sad that in the days of Josiah they had to find the book of the Lord because they had lost it. Too many in our religious world have lost the book today! Secondly, the Word of God should be precious always. I wish that we could convince religious people, and even some of our own brethren, that the Word of God is precious, should be studied and adhered to in all of our religious actions. When the Word is held as “precious,” it will truly become our guide. I read so many notes and articles about so many of our own brethren being led off into the trappings of denominationalism, and realize that one can only do that when he or she forgets how precious the Word of God is. In the third place, the Word of God should bring the reaction “Here am I, send me” from us. Through the Great Commission and other admonitions of the Bible, God is calling us to action. He still asks, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Way too often the response to God is “I can’t go, I am way too busy” (or some other excuse). Because men like Samuel and Isaiah held the Word of God to be precious, because they wanted to please God, because they were more concerned about His way than their own thoughts, they responded to what God said. While Samuel at first thought the voice was that of Eli, his response of “Here am I” would be a lifetime dedication. Next, we must stand firmly with the Word of God, even when the message is hard or might anger someone. Samuel, in 1 Samuel, was instructed to give a message to Eli, his mentor and master. It was a very unpleasant message because of the evil of Eli’s sons. It was so unpleasant that Samuel was at first afraid to tell Eli, but he did what was right. We must be willing to stand with the Word of God even when others will attack, malign, ridicule and even harm us because of it. In addition, we need to accept what God’s will is. Eli insisted on hearing what God had to say to Samuel. Samuel would have done him no favors by not telling him the truth. Eli’s response was, “It is the LORD: let him do what seemeth him good.” We must listen to God’s words, and accept His will, even when it is in conflict with our own personal preferences or “perceived needs.” Finally, if we will look upon God’s Word as precious, we will succeed with it. The Bible sums up the success of Samuel, who always maintained the “Here am I” attitude, in these words: “And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground.” What that means is that God did not let Samuel’s words go wasted. His adherence to the Word of God, and his unfailing faith, made his role as a spokesman for God a success. The fact is that you and I are all spokesmen for God. A person may never climb in a pulpit or do any other public thing, but each of us, by our lives and our words, are spokesmen for God. May we take that responsibility seriously, and with the attitude of Isaiah “Here am I, send me!” because we truly know that the word of God is precious.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Oct 2013 09:07:41 +0000
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