Things Revealed

Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.

Acts 6:38

These were the words of Rabbi Gamaliel to the Sanhedrin after Peter and the apostles were arrested for preaching the word. The members of the Sanhedrin wanted to put them to death, but Gamaliel cautioned restraint: “consider carefully what you intend to do to these men.” Since Gamaliel was highly honored, they heeded his words. The apostles were flogged instead, and freed with a warning “not to speak in the name of Jesus.” As for heeding that warning, Acts says this about the apostles: “Day after day...they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.”

So much for derailing God’s plan.

Jesus said, "Many are called but few are chosen.” In fact, the call of Jesus is for the restoration of all mankind. Our response to that call is one of the rare instances in life when we actually choose ourselves. Sadly, few do, so few are chosen. But for those of us who raise our hands or hearts to the Lord, for those of us who exercise our right to become “children of God,” we receive "the Spirit of sonship" and become “heirs of God and co-heirs of Christ.” From that moment on we no longer walk alone or only in our own strength. And what we share with others—the good news that Jesus is the Christ—is more than mere words; it is the word of life infused with the power of God Almighty.

Gamaliel understood something we need to lay hold of. If what we do for God, or rather, what we think we are doing for God, is of human origin, it will fail. If we share the word to be noticed, to get recognition or to get credit from God, we will accomplish nothing. In the same way, if our motivation is to be seen as different or holy or somehow better than those around us, we will accomplish little that lasts. Worse, because our motivations are never as concealed as we think, we will likely harden the hearts of those who hear us because our words will be eclipsed by our motives. All they will see is more of the world.

But if we love God and are committed to pleasing him, we will share with others out of the overflow of our hearts. Whatever that leads us to say or do, no matter how inadequate we think our understanding or delivery, they will hear and see something supernatural. Something uniquely different. Something unstoppable. For as Gamaliel explained to the unbelieving Sanhedrin, “if it is from God, you will not be able to stop [them]; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”

As for those who try to stop us, don’t take it to heart or make it personal. Their opposition is not our fight. That battle belongs to the Lord. Let them fight against God.

And isn’t that really the point? To draw them into a fight with God (who says “come now, let us reason together”), then trust that the Lord of Hosts will bring them to the point of surrender, death and new life in Christ Jesus. To the place where to lose is to win.

There’s no stopping God.

And there’s no stopping us if our purpose or activity is from him.

In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.

1 Samuel 3:1

Although we live in unprecedented times of both turmoil and radically earth-changing technological advances, too often it seems that even in these days, the word of the Lord is rare. Danger lurks in every corner of the globe—from terrorism to swine flu to the economic collapse of the western world. Trying to understand the times while living among a people who embrace everything but Jesus, is no easy task. But we have been called and empowered to do just that.

In Samuel’s day, it wasn’t much different. Israel’s miraculous delivery from Egypt had receded into history. It had conquered and settled Canaan. And while its special role in God’s eyes had not changed, its view of itself and its commitment to God’s ways had. Now it wanted to be like other nations. Being led by an unseen God no longer satisfied; Israel wanted a King. A real flesh and blood king, not just the King of the Universe.

Once the Israelites were no longer satisfied with their special role as God’s chosen people, they were no longer vigilant to keep his ways or to remain holy and set apart as the Lord desired. With its eyes off God, Israel could only backslide. First in small things. Then in all things. It says that Eli was the priest in God’s temple and his sons, also priests, “were wicked men; they had no regard for the Lord.” From the top down, Israel had fallen to the ways of the world.

Some things seem never to change. We live in times where having no regard for the Lord is thought not just preferable, but enlightened. There is an ongoing effort to sanitize American history so its Judeo-Christian roots are disparaged or denied. There’s an effort to recast the founding fathers as singularly secular men who did everything possible to eliminate the role of God in the fledgling nation they were creating.There’s even an effort to claim that America has always been a Muslim nation. And like in Samuel’s time, the fruit of these views is that the word of the Lord is rare, there are not many visions and we look to Kings (presidents) for hope, instead of to the God of hope who fills us with joy and peace as we trust in him.

It is only with an understanding of just how secular things had become that we can appreciate the diligence of Samuel’s mother. In a culture that no longer valued prayer, that no longer even recognized it (Eli thought Hannah was drunk), she pressed on because there’s always a faithful remnant (even today). It says “In bitterness of soul, Hannah wept much and prayed to the Lord.” She did it year after year at the temple, beseeching God for a child, promising that if he gave her a son, she would give him to the Lord. God granted her prayers, and she gave birth to a son. Hannah knew God heard her prayers so she named him “Samuel,” which means "heard of God." Fulfilling her promise, Hannah brought the boy to Eli in the temple and told him, “For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” And Samuel lived with Eli in the temple. A boy dedicated to God by his faithful mother, raised by priests whose hearts had gone cold and who reveled in their positions instead of God’s promises. But God’s will for the faithful few cannot be thwarted by the unfaithful many no matter how important or powerful they appear to be.

When he was about 12 years old, Samuel was lying down in the temple near the Ark of God. The Lord called him. Samuel thought it was Eli so he ran to him and said, “Here I am.” But it wasn’t Eli calling. The Lord called him again and again Samuel ran to Eli saying “Here I am.” But it still wasn’t Eli, so the boy went back and lied down. It wasn’t that Samuel was dense or unreceptive or dimwitted. It was something more fundamental:

Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.

1 Samuel 3:7

How sad and pathetic. Living in the temple, sleeping near the Ark, being taken care of by the priests and the Levites, by Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. How did a people set apart for God foresake their special role, their special responsibilities and their special relationship with the Lord of the Universe?

How do we do it? We are God’s chosen vessels for these times. Yet many of us have foresaken our special role in God's Kingdom. Many of us have gone through dry and trying times. Times of no visions. Times of disappointment. Times that have so worn us down that we don’t hear what God is saying, can’t discern the times we live in and don't think our prayers are even heard. Samuel didn’t hear because the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. So why don’t we hear? We have heard the word of the Lord; that’s why we are believers. But if we are not diligent to be in the word, we are as good as deaf and are heading for spiritual death. That's the problem: the spiritually dead and dying cannot hear or see clearly. Which is why we are commanded to choose life.

Even in a backslidden nation, in a nation that looks to shake off its destiny and its roots, God still speaks to the remnant that's listening. He says pray. He says I am with you. He says I hear the prayers of my people. He says persevere through the dry times, just as Hannah did. And he reminds us to “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.”

Samuel became a great prophet in Israel, anointing Saul the first King of Israel, then anointing David King when Saul’s throne was taken from him. But before Samuel could walk in God’s authority, something fundamental had to happen.

The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord. The Lord continued to appear at Shilo and there revealed himself to Samuel through his word.

1 Samuel 3: 20

It was the word of the Lord that transformed Samuel. John begins his Gospel with these words: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” And later he tells us, “the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”

The Lord revealed himself to Samuel through his word. The Lord revealed himself to us through his word, through the word made flesh and through the Holy Spirit who quickens the word to our hearts. We too must dwell in the word. We too should be recognized as the people of God. We too should be attested as prophets among the lost, speaking with authority about Jesus’ return, about his redemption and about the increase in wickedness as love grows cold all around us.

Someone needs to speak these things.

Samuel didn’t recognize the call of God because the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. It is our responsibility to reveal the word of the Lord that has been revealed to us, so that those around us can recognize God’s call on their lives. It is our responsibility to hear the word of the Lord ourselves, to read and reread the word of the Lord and to let the word of the Lord dwell richly in us so that we will be transformed and recognized as God’s very ambassadors.

And it is our responsibility in these ever-changing and chaotic times, to speak words of life and love and hope to a lost people who think that the best we can do is to get past the God stuff and get down to fixing the planet and ushering in world peace on our own.

And people think we’re foolish!

You want to hear the word of the Lord like Samuel did? Read it.

You want the word of the Lord revealed to those around you? Speak it.

Because this is how we've been charged:

Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

2 Timothy 4:2-5