Encouragement
THE LAMP OF GOD
1 Samuel 3:1-4
“The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions. One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called Samuel.”
Samuel was a mighty prophet of God, and the thirteenth judge of Israel (1 Samuel 1:15-17). His name means “Asked of God” and “Heard by God”. He was the son of Godly parents (Elkanah and Hannah) and the miraculous result of persistent prayer. 1 Samuel 1 talks about how Samuel’s mother Hannah prayed and waited, and waited and prayed, and received him as a precious gift from the Almighty, prayer answering God.
We are told that Samuel was born and growing at a time when the Word of the Lord was ‘rare’, and there were ‘not many visions’. The condition of Israel during this time was very sad. We know from Judges 21:25 that Israel experienced a vacuum and sense of confusion during this time. The nation had no real leadership, and people all went their own lawless way. They had lost sight of God. They had shifted their focus to the methods and the powers of the world, and so they stopped seeing the goodness of the Lord. They stopped hearing His voice. The Word of the Lord became ‘rare’ – something they did not even look for or expect to experience. The visions dried up; the supernatural, miracle working presence of Almighty God, which had been their portion as they travelled through the desert for forty years became a thing of the past; an old testimony, which had lost its shine.
This happened because the priests of God had allowed their sight to become dull. Eli’s eyes had become so weak that he could barely see. Everything seemed dark to him – he had lost sight of the Light! God had placed a calling on his life, and he had been anointed as the priest of God; but over the years, he had stopped seeing his calling. He had been overtaken by the rituals and traditions, and the expectations of the people he served. As the years went by and he focused on the wrong things, his sight got dimmer and dimmer, and he got heavier and more tired (1 Samuel 4:18). It came to a point where he could only sit around, or lie down in his ‘usual place. There was no more fight in him; there was no more passion, as he just went through the motions day in and day out, simply existing, when God had decreed for him a powerful anointing, and a passionate love.
Things were pretty bleak in the house of God, where there used to be joy and celebration, and great rejoicing. There was a sense of darkness in the temple, which had once been flooded with Shekinah glory, and the reality of God’s powerful presence; but the lamp of God had not yet gone out. In Leviticus 24:2, we read about how God instructed the people of Israel to use olive oil to keep the lamps in the temple burning continuously; they were not to be allowed to go out. The priest (Aaron at the time) was given the responsibility of replenishing the lamps with oil even through the night, but Eli was asleep – his vision was so dim that he could not see that the lamp was barely a weak, flickering flame.
I believe the lamp is symbolic of the presence of God which comes into a home or church when there is sincere prayer and worship, and a hunger for the presence of God. Things may seem pretty bleak around us – in the city, in the economy, in the political scene of the nation. We look around and see lawlessness on every side, as people embrace evil as good and reject good as evil. There is a sense of confusion and an ‘orphan’ spirit in homes, in schools, in the very atmosphere, as people feel a strange sense of being abandoned and dislodged from the very purpose they were created for – to worship and have relationship with their Creator God. Most people are unable to identify the cause of their emptiness and pain, and so the general dependence on prescription medication and other addictive substances seem to increase, and division and distress seems to multiply. All the while the world cries out for answers, the priests of God are asleep. They have lost their vision. They have lost their sense of purpose. They continue to wear themselves out fruitlessly with human plans and programs, lulled into a slumber of complacency, while thousands die daily lost and bound, into eternal darkness. We cannot blame the world for what is happening around us – the priests of God have ceased to seek after the heart of God.
Eli followed a daily routine, a habit of lying down in his usual place. Friend, it is time to break out of the usual place and seek the secret place! It is time to light the lamp again. It is time to ask the blessed Holy Spirit for fresh oil upon the lamp, that a passion and a radical love will burn fiercely, and consume everything and everyone in the temple! God wants more for us than a mere existence or survival. It is time for Eli to truly live again. It is time for Eli to experience a fresh visitation of the presence of Jehovah God and to be lifted up to dance and rejoice in the arms of the Lord once more. It is time for the priests of God to take their place as the watchmen on the wall, as the guardians of the anointing oil, and to live in His presence day and night – holy stewards of a holy calling amidst a lost generation. We cannot allow the lamp to go out. We will not allow the darkness to come in. Eli awake! Eli arise! Come back to your calling. Come back to the vision God gave you. You are anointed and appointed for such a time as this!
Samuel was just a little boy. He knew there was a special purpose for his life. His mother had consecrated him to the Lord when he was born, because she knew he was a miraculous answer to prayer (1 Samuel 1:11). Numbers 6:1-21 explains the Nazirite vow, in which people devoted themselves to the Lord’s service either for a period of time or for their whole lives. This is what Hannah did with Samuel, and he lived and served in the Lord’s house soon after he was weaned. Unfortunately he ministered before the Lord ‘under’ Eli, so he only knew to do what his leader did – he was sleeping when the lamp of God was going out.
However, we are told that God called Samuel. He was a little boy and knew nothing about theology, all the traditions and rituals, or the history of the church. But there was one thing he knew to do – he stayed close to the ark of God where the presence of God was. And in a day and age when priests and prophets had not heard the voice of God for many years, God called to the heart of a child. In a time when the rhema word had dried up in the prayer meetings, and the gifts of the Spirit were not flowing (visions were scarce), in the quiet of the night, God called his name! In Matthew 18:3 Jesus said “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven”. His heart was fresh and open, and willing to hear.
Friends, let us pull the scales off our eyes; the spiritual cataracts that have blinded us to the move of God and His heart for souls, His compassion for the nations. God is calling us to get back to childlike love and childlike faith; He is calling us back to an openness to hear His voice and see dreams and visions once more. He is calling us to awake from the slumber of apathy and complacency. Let us open our lives to the outpoured oil of the Holy Spirit, so that we can fall in love with Jesus afresh and be radical and filled with passion once more! In these last days, God wants to flow His presence and power through His priests, His children, like never before! He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the church! (Revelations 2:29).
Walk in His power and His blessing, and be radical for Jesus wherever you are, in the name of Jesus Christ, the King of kings and the Lord of lords! I am praying a fiery revival for you!
Minoli Haththotuwa, 20 November 2009
www.wingslikeeagles.info
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