Ever have to deal with great expectations? Maybe from your parents? Maybe from a spouse? From the day you were born you wanted to bring honor to your family name. You may have to live up to a high standard set by a sibling. You may have to prove that you aren’t like those who have come before and failed or hurt others.

Imagine if from day one God appointed you to a holy leader, a man or woman that would be faithful to God and not stray from him? One who would go above and beyond setting a standard for others to follow. Talk about pressure…

When you read 1 Samuel 1-12 that’s who Samuel was; he grew up in the temple, and God singled him out as a prophet. It came during a rough time in Israel, as it says in 1 Samuel 3:1, “Now the young man Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.” From a young age all the way until his death, Samuel served God during a generation of corrupt people whom Samuel had to rebuke very often. 

When he was just a boy, he had to stand up against corrupt priests in the temple, which he was able to do because he loved God's words. 1 Samuel 3:19, 21: “And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And the Lord appeared again at Shiloh, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord.” This experience drove Samuel to serve the Lord faithfully throughout his life.

Toward the end of his life Samuel had to deal with the entire nation of Israel complaining for a king because they wanted to fit in with the rest of the world. Samuel did not want to fit in with the crowd; he saw the danger of placing the power of God’s nation in one man’s hands, and he did not want God’s people to look like all the other people of the world. He wanted them to stand out. Yet God gave Samuel directions to allow the people of Israel to choose a king, and so Samuel anointed Saul to lead the nation. Samuel worked hard to train Saul in the ways of the Lord, yet Saul failed and strayed from God. 

It must have felt like a personal failure to Samuel to see Saul stray from God’s word, but the Lord continued to use Samuel for a plan of redemption. 1 Samuel 16 explains his new mission was to find a new king, a king after God’s own heart, and that man was the great king, David.

Samuel consistently obeyed the Lord, stood up for the Lord’s way when it wasn’t popular to anyone at the time, and served people with the care and love of God. Starting as a boy in one temple, God moved him to be the last judge for the entire nation. God loves using young people. What little thing is calling you to do for Him now? What big thing could he turn that into later?

Scriptures: 1 Samuel 12:24, 26:23, 1 Peter 4:10-11

Prayer:  Lord, may I fear you and obey your word above all else in my life, even when it is unpopular. Teach me to give the little things over to you now, so that I can be prepared to serve you in big ways later. Amen.