He Did Not Yet Know the Lord

Every once in a while a verse from the pages of scripture jumps out and slaps me across the face – verses I’m sure I’ve read before in chapters that I know I’ve studied- stories that I’ve known since those Sunday school lessons with flannel-graph characters and  Kool-aid and cookies.  Every once in a while the words stretch out from the paper and grab my attention and shake me.

This most recent scriptural-face-slap came from 1^st Samuel chapter 3 – You know the story. You’ve probably known it since those same Sunday school lessons: Hannah has fulfilled her vow and left her only son, Samuel, in service to God at the tabernacle in Shiloh. 

1 Samuel 3:1 Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD before Eli.  And word from the LORD was rare in those days, visions were infrequent.  

Now we can assume that Samuel has been in service - ministering to the LORD - for several years, maybe as many as 10 or 12 years - pretty much his entire life so far.  He's an apprentice to the aging priest, Eli.  Then one night, out of the blue, he hears the voice of God calling to him, but he mistakes it for the the voice of his master. Samuel jumps up from his cot in the tabernacle and runs to present himself to Eli.  The elderly priest is a little perturbed at having been awakened from his sleep and sends the boy back to bed.  This happens repeatedly.

And then - here's the kicker - here's the verse that left a big red hand shaped welt across my face:

Verse 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, nor had the word of the LORD yet been revealed to him.
Wait! What?
He's been ministering in the tabernacle his entire life - everything he has ever done or known has been in service to a God that he doesn't even know?

And you know what?  There are times when I feel that way too. That's why the verse knocked me over.