Today’s author is Intentional Interim Pastor, Steve Sylvester.
“Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli. The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.” Based on those opening sentences from our Scripture reading yesterday, it’s really no wonder neither Samual nor Eli recognized that it was the Lord who was speaking to the boy. I mean, how would they? It’s like trying to identify a rare bird that flies by while you’re out on a walk. What was it? Well, I think it had a little yellow in the tail, maybe brown wings. It was about the size of a sparrow, maybe a robin. But it’s a rare bird, and I’ve never seen one before, so who knows what it was?
Listening for and to God is kind of like that. There are SO many words out there, and there is no shortage of visions laid out before us. So, how do we know when it’s God’s voice that has crept in? How can we be certain that the picture given to us comes from the Lord? Well, we can’t, and a few words about that.
First of all, because we can never know for sure that it’s God trying to break through, we must “sin boldly, but believe more boldly still.” That’s from Martin Luther. What he meant was that we can never know that our actions or words are what God needs for them to be, but God does need for us to act in this world, so we act, and as we act we believe that God in Christ can use our actions to pursue good. That’s number one. PARTICIPATE in life. Participate boldly, and throw your participation on God’s grace.
Two other things, another from Luther and one from St. Paul. Luther spoke of Scripture as the “cradle of Christ.” That means if we read something in Scripture that has no grace, no gospel—something that is all cradle and no babe—we need to broaden or deepen our reading. We hear a lot these days about God’s word as a two by four upside the head instead of as open arms to beckon and welcome. Those words may be about God, but they are not from God.
Lastly, St. Paul tells us to “test the spirit.” Is the word of God used to crush? If so, that’s not God’s word. Is a parable from Jesus used to belittle or divide? If so, it didn’t come from the Jesus who died because of his love for us. Test the spirit, to see whether God’s word is used to beat down or raise up. In our day and age, there is nothing rare about people who scream, “God said! God said! God said!” So, we must cling to God and speak and do grace.