Aligning with God's Will: The Life of Samuel
1 Samuel 1:23b
…only the LORD establish his word…
Samuel was a destiny child. He came at a time in Israel’s history where there was “no open vision” and where a word from God through His prophet was precious because of its rarity if nothing else. There was a lot of expectation around the meaning of Samuel’s existence for two reasons. First, Samuel’s mother was not supposed to even have children, but she did! And second, the reason she did was because she prayed and asked The Lord for a child. But, she didn’t just ask for him so she would be the primary beneficiary. Rather, she vowed to The Lord that she would lend her child to The Lord’s service for the duration of his lifetime! So, you can only imagine that when God answered her prayer with a male child, that they fully anticipated God to have a special purpose in mind for young Samuel. It is with this frame of thought and mind that Samuel’s father says concerning the plans for the child, “…only the LORD establish his word…”. I believe this phrase has at least two applications, both of which will be consistent with the text. First, I believe that Elkanah is saying, in essence, “May The Lord reveal His will!”. Secondly, I believe that he is also simultaneously saying, “May The Lord’s will be done!” Some might even argue that he is saying, “Only if The Lord wills it to be so!” In either case, the point to be made is that in every situation, no matter where we are at in life, we ought always to seek first God’s will and establish God’s word on the matter. You see, when you study God’s word, you are studying His will. Now that said, because young Samuel had parents willing to give him over to The Lord’s service, Samuel went on to be a great man of God. In fact, later on we see in 1 Samuel 3:20 “…that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord.” And what did Elkanah say in our text? Only The Lord establish His word? Sound familiar? In fact, now that we consider the two verses side by side, we can conclude that Elkanah’s statement even had some prophetic undertones to it, because of the way that The Lord did indeed establish His word, not only FOR, but THROUGH the prophet Samuel. Now I said all that to say this; when we’re truly centered around God’s Word, and not some personal or popular twisted version of it, then and only then can we expect God’s will to be accomplished. God’s Word, and therefore His will, is forever established and settled in Heaven, but what about Earth? Let’s pray that He will continue to establish His Word HERE!
~ Pastor Gary Caudill
…only the LORD establish his word…
Samuel was a destiny child. He came at a time in Israel’s history where there was “no open vision” and where a word from God through His prophet was precious because of its rarity if nothing else. There was a lot of expectation around the meaning of Samuel’s existence for two reasons. First, Samuel’s mother was not supposed to even have children, but she did! And second, the reason she did was because she prayed and asked The Lord for a child. But, she didn’t just ask for him so she would be the primary beneficiary. Rather, she vowed to The Lord that she would lend her child to The Lord’s service for the duration of his lifetime! So, you can only imagine that when God answered her prayer with a male child, that they fully anticipated God to have a special purpose in mind for young Samuel. It is with this frame of thought and mind that Samuel’s father says concerning the plans for the child, “…only the LORD establish his word…”. I believe this phrase has at least two applications, both of which will be consistent with the text. First, I believe that Elkanah is saying, in essence, “May The Lord reveal His will!”. Secondly, I believe that he is also simultaneously saying, “May The Lord’s will be done!” Some might even argue that he is saying, “Only if The Lord wills it to be so!” In either case, the point to be made is that in every situation, no matter where we are at in life, we ought always to seek first God’s will and establish God’s word on the matter. You see, when you study God’s word, you are studying His will. Now that said, because young Samuel had parents willing to give him over to The Lord’s service, Samuel went on to be a great man of God. In fact, later on we see in 1 Samuel 3:20 “…that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord.” And what did Elkanah say in our text? Only The Lord establish His word? Sound familiar? In fact, now that we consider the two verses side by side, we can conclude that Elkanah’s statement even had some prophetic undertones to it, because of the way that The Lord did indeed establish His word, not only FOR, but THROUGH the prophet Samuel. Now I said all that to say this; when we’re truly centered around God’s Word, and not some personal or popular twisted version of it, then and only then can we expect God’s will to be accomplished. God’s Word, and therefore His will, is forever established and settled in Heaven, but what about Earth? Let’s pray that He will continue to establish His Word HERE!
~ Pastor Gary Caudill