The Lord revealed Himself by the word

Then the LORD appeared again in Shiloh. For the LORD revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the LORD. – 1 Samuel 3v21

Even before we have the written word of God we have an indication of how the Lord is going to appear to man. We know already that the word of the Lord was a rare thing in these days. It was a rough time for the nation. If, as it appears, Eli was typical of the nation, it really was bad. His sons, Hophni and Phinehas were vile men.

Even in these most wicked of days, even when there was a ‘famine of the word,’ God appeared to Samuel at Shiloh.

It is how God appeared that caught my eye. We read here that the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel through the word of the Lord.

I realise that we cannot draw too much from this little phrase, but I think there is a principle for us. God revealed Himself to Samuel through, apparently, a spoken revelation. This was the ‘word of the Lord.’ His revelation of His word was directly to Samuel, and we are able to read about it today through the written word of God. His revelation was always consistent with Himself.

That was precious for Samuel. We might think about how wonderful it was for Samuel to have God speak directly to him.

When I read of this I think about how blessed we are to have, to my mind, something so much better. God still reveals Himself to His people today. We don’t have to go a specific place like Samuel did. We don’t have to depend on our memories and powers of recall to have His word with us. God has blessed us with the written word of God. I can go back to the same passages I first learned decades ago and still have God speak to me though His word.

I am glad that God revealed Himself to Samuel through His word. I am glad that reveals Himself to us through His word today.