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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Laurel Damsteegt

Speak Lord Thy Servant Heareth

Kind Father, you are the God that knows everything about each 1 of us, and you care infinitely about each 1 of us.

And as we turn to you now for filling, we are empty, you have all, and we open our hearts to you.

The old tent has seen better days, for it has now been more than 300 years since Basileo hunched over, carefully crafting each part of the sanctuary.

The old curtains are stained, they're heavy with blood over the years.

Those days when Basileo was crafting things, there was an excitement about the sanctuary because God really lived there.

The Shekinah glory just filled the sanctuary and the cloud that was leading by day, lit up by night, would come down and would fill that sanctuary so that people would have to back away.

The good old days are gone, the young people that are in charge now have many problems.

The elders are not doing anything about it.

Eli, bless his heart, didn't have self-control himself, let alone controlling his family, and things have gotten totally out of hand at the sanctuary.

The old saints are fretting and worrying and trying to do something about it, but nothing seems to be helping.

But the old saints need not have worried, because God is in control of this church.

And God always does things in his own time and his own way, and he comes through in his time and in his way.

Running parallel with the scandal of the sanctuary is a very interesting story of a very faithful woman, Hannah, who is barren.

We all know the story of Hannah, how she went to the sanctuary praying, pouring out her heart, asking God for a child.

Like the other barren women in the Bible, we find the stories of Elizabeth, stories of Sarah, who learned faith through pain.

You and I have those kinds of lessons to learn.

So anytime pain comes your way, look at it as a stepping stone to big things God wants in your life, and big things He wants to build into your life.

Hannah prays, prays her heart out and God answers.

Hannah brings this small child to the sanctuary.

When little Samuel is born, she names him.

We find that naming 1st and 1st Samuel, chapter 1, verse 20, Let's look there first before we continue with our story what a Report came to pass when the time has come about after Hannah had been seen But she bear a son and called his name Sam Saying because I have asked him of the Lord.

Actually, Samuel is based on the word to hear.

And so she is Using this name as a play on words, on her experience of how God had heard her deepest need and her deepest cry.

She brings this small child to the sanctuary.

I don't know if you've ever had anything you wanted so badly as Hannah wanted that child.

But Hannah brings this small child to the sanctuary.

When Abraham was asked to give up his son, he came up to Mount Moriah.

But then just before the dagger came down, God said, that's enough.

God didn't stand at the sanctuary and tell Hannah, I've seen it, it's enough.

Samuel stayed at that hopeless sanctuary with that terrible environment with wicked men and Hannah left this child.

Her prayer recorded in chapter 2 of Samuel tells us of her heart cry for this child.

I just want to pick up in verse 9, the prayer is beautiful, But let's just pick up in verse 9 there where Hannah says, he, speaking of God, will keep the feet of his saints and the wicked shall be silent in darkness.

The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces, out of heaven shall thunder upon them.

The Lord shall judge the ends of the earth, and he shall give strength unto his king and exalt the horn of his anointing." the faith of a praying mother who knows that God will ultimately conquer in this hopeless situation and knows that she has done her very best to put into place God's very will for that time.

Notice verse 9, he will keep the feet of his saints and I believe that's what Hannah believed with all her heart.

Dear little Samuel, in this strange environment, can you imagine him, a little tiny 3 year old just barely weaned here with these men?

And Samuel responded, we're told he had such a lovely character because he loved to obey and as Eli would ask him to do things he was so willing to do everything.

And that really becomes an example to us of what we can be, serving God, is having that same joy and that same obedient spirit.

God saw that spirit and God knew that this was a person that he could trust to lead Israel in a very, very difficult time.

And you know, he's looking for hearts like that today.

He's looking for you and me who are willing to give up anything and obey what He has in mind.

So we find this dark sanctuary, the light hasn't quite gone out yet we're told.

Here's little Samuel on his little mat there and he hears calling, Samuel, Samuel.

We find, let's pick up in chapter 3 of 1 Samuel, starting with verse 1, and the word of the Lord was precious in those days.

It had been a while since God had somebody he could really communicate with.

And it came to pass at that time when Eli was laid down in his place and his eyes began to wax dim that he could not see.

In verse 3 of chapter 3 of 1 Samuel, an heir of the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was.

And he said, Here am I, for thou callest me.

And Samuel arose and ran to Eli and said, Here am I, for thou didst call me.

And Eli answered, I called thee not, my son.

Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him.

And the Lord called Samuel again a third time.

And he arose and went to Eli and said, here am I, for thou didst call me.

Therefore, Eli said unto Samuel, Go lie down, and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord, for thy servant here.

So Samuel man lay down in his place, and the Lord came, and stood, and called, as at other times, Samuel, Samuel.

Then Samuel answered, speak for thy servant here.

I don't want you to miss the beauty of what's going on here because we have Samuel, 1 heard, heard of God and he's now poised to hear.

Sometimes we hear, but we don't really hear.

What this hearing means is that we are poised and anxious to do, anxious to obey.

And so here's little Samuel, speak Lord, I'm willing, I'm ready, anything.

If God calls us, do we have that same intent to obey anything?

God says something to you, Are you willing to leave it?

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Speak Lord Thy Servant Heareth

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