1 Samuel 3:15-21 | Food for Thought

 

1 Samuel 3:15-21

Food for Thought:

  • Don't hide [from] hard words. Eli (to his credit!) knew that what the Lord might have to say would be harsh… particularly towards him! We get to welcome the Word of the Lord with open arms, even if we suspect the words might be hard.

    • Remember: what were the hard words that God said about Eli? How could Eli have prevented those hard words from the Lord if he had been willing to give hard words from the Lord to his sons?

    • Which is harder for you: sharing hard words or receiving hard words? Why?

    • Are hard words from the Lord necessarily good or bad? What would make them one way or the other?

    • Eli very specifically said to not leave any words out of Samuel's report. How should this mirror our approach to God's word?

    • Would the truthfulness of what God told Samuel change if he hadn't passed it onto Eli? Why do you think God told Samuel about it?

    • How did Eli respond to Samuel's words? Was it surprising in any way? Why or why not?

    • How should Eli's response to hard works make us think of the way we respond to hard words? …our willingness to offer them to others?

    • Unlike Eli, how do the promises of the good news of Jesus free us to both give and receive hard words without fear or feeling like they must be bad news?

  • God and his Word go together. The Lord was with Samuel and Samuel let none of his words fall to the ground. The Lord appeared to Shiloh again because he revealed himself by his words. Where God goes, so does his voice. The Lord is never a silent god, nor should we mute any of his words. The receiving and giving of God's words go hand-in-hand with his very presence.

    • Imagine if we didn't have God's Word. What would your life be like? What would we be doing? How would you know what's true? What would any kind of spirituality look like?

      • Consider what the impact (or lack of impact) might mean for your spiritual life.

      • How significant is it that we have a God who speaks to us?

    • On a very basic level, how significant is God's word in your daily life?

    • Do you separate the words that God has given from God himself?

    • How does the relationship between God and his words spur us towards reading the Scriptures?

    • How does this inform the significance of Jesus being the Word made flesh?

 
1 SamuelScott O'Donohoe