But Samuel ministered

But Samuel ministered before the LORD, even as a child, wearing a linen ephod. – I Samuel 2v18

I apologise for some of the jumping around here, but every time I get ready to move on I see something else I want to share, so please bear with me. This little passage caught my eye as I was reading over the other passages and I though it had a very important, if brief, thought for us.

We know from the previous days readings that things were falling apart in Israel. It got so bad that people even thought that God had left the nation to fend for itself. All sorts of wickedness were going on right there in the temple. The verse just before the one above says ‘Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord…’

But then we come to Samuel. While all this was going on we read, ‘But Samuel ministered before the Lord, even as a child…’

While it was all falling apart the child Samuel just kept on serving the Lord. Without mentors or spiritual leadership Samuel just kept on serving. All alone Samuel kept on serving.

What a great example for us who serve the Lord. There are times when that service can get lonely. It is those times that we need a gut check to see if we have the same level of service and dedication that Samuel, while he was still a young child, had.