Daily Devotional for Wednesday, June 14

Samuel Becomes a Great Prophet

“And all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the LORD,” (1 Samuel 3:20).

When I first surrendered to the ministry and began seminary classes, one of the students asked during some discussion whether he should be out trying to promote himself as a preacher. The instructor told us all that if we did our best for the Lord today, that the Lord would make sure we were where we needed to be tomorrow. This goes along with “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up,” (James 4:10). So many people are more concerned with promoting themselves than what God has called them to do today.

When Samuel began to be called upon by the Lord, he thought at first that Eli had been calling him because he had not yet learned how to discern the Lord’s call (1 Samuel 3:5-9). Many of the Lord’s children today do not realize the gifts that God has given them nor the call upon their lives to use them to minister to others (Romans 12:3-8). Samuel shows us that to be great we must first hear Him and what his word is revealing to us (1 Samuel 3:10, 21) then be willing to answer the call that he has placed on our lives. Isaiah had the same attitude when the Lord had called him “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me,” (Isaiah 6:8). That Samuel became a great prophet is not because of him promoting himself but that he listened and obeyed the word of God.

JUST A THOUGHT: Instead of worrying about what God is going to do with you in the future and how He might use you then, why not be like Samuel and grow and thrive where He has planted you today. He might just make something great out of your life also.

Tim Chambers