“What am I going to do? Why did the Lord tell me? Maybe Eli won’t ask me. Maybe I shouldn’t tell him all that God said.”  Can you imagine being Samuel and the Lord telling you the future of someone you loved very much, and it was awful? I Samuel 3:15 states, “And Samuel lay until the morning and opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And Samuel feared to shew Eli the vision.”

The story of Samuel has always amazed me. His mother willingly gave him to God without promise of another child. God blessed her with more children, but not before she left Samuel in the temple with Eli. Scripture indicates that she only saw him once a year from the time he was 3 or 4 years old. I can only imagine how hard that was. She must have been familiar with the temple’s environment at that time. Hannah trusted God and left him with Eli. When chapter 2 of Samuel begins, Hannah is praising the Lord. Why? It does not show her crying as she leaves. It shows her rejoicing over her salvation.

Hannah was obedient to God, even when it hurt. I am sure it hurt her to leave her son with Eli, especially knowing that Eli’s sons were evil. It was well known in Israel. However, she honored God above herself, and she left him there. In I Samuel 2:29b, Eli is warned by a man of God of the consequences of honoring his sons above God.

As Samuel grew up in the temple, he served Eli faithfully. When the Lord called to him in the night, it was Samuel’s first encounter with the Lord (I Samuel 3:7). I cannot imagine being in his shoes. It is hard enough for me to tell someone something I know they don’t want to hear, and much less that their children were going to die and it was their fault.

I have read these verses over and over again, looking to see where God commanded Samuel to tell Eli the words of the Lord. God tells him that He is going to judge Eli’s family because Eli doesn’t restrain his children. Samuel has to tell Eli that he is a bad father, and it is too late now. 

I imagine Samuel contemplated what to do as he lay in the bed that night. When Eli called to him the next morning, he asked him what the Lord said and not to hide anything. He instructs Samuel to tell him the truth. Samuel had a choice. Oswald Chambers points out that God did not tell Samuel to tell Eli the vision. He left it up to him. Samuel had to choose to be obedient. He could not lie to Eli to spare his feelings.

Isn’t it tempting to try to shield others from hurt and suffering? Sometimes it is ourselves we are trying to protect. We really don’t want to discuss someone’s sin and how it is affecting others. We don’t want to tell a friend that the person she trusted has betrayed her.   There are numerous instances where we make soft decisions or soft pedal the truth to justify our actions.

Samuel made the right choice. He told Eli that God said, “…For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not…”

I Samuel 3:13

The following chapters and verses explain the fate of Eli, and Samuel becomes the leader of Israel. It is a sad story, but it should give us all a wake-up call. As Christians, we face numerous decisions, but only one is truly right. We must be obedient to God no matter what the consequences. We make choices as adults about who to marry, what job to have, how to raise our children, and most importantly, what ways God wants us to serve. We serve Him in every choice we make. There is no way to list them all.

We have many times in our lives when we have to make a choice. When we started Pathway Christian Academy, many people tried to talk us out of it. People we loved and cared about thought it was a wrong decision and a waste of resources. My husband and I had to choose between following what we felt God was leading us to do and listening to those who thought they were looking out for our best interests. Some got upset with us for our choices. We did not want to hurt them, but we had to be obedient.

How many times in your life have you been at a fork in the road? How many times have you had to decide what decision to make? Some decisions involve your children. We were always worried about being too strict. I regret many more of the yes’s than I did the no’s where my children were concerned. When we are asked to do something or go somewhere that we really know we shouldn’t, but we don’t want to hurt people’s feelings, it can be a catastrophe. That “yes” that should have been a “no” can change a person’s life. 

It takes courage and obedience to do God’s will, but it is the only way to please God. Just as it took courage for Samuel to speak to Eli, it will take courage for us to do the right thing. We will sometimes hurt others with the decisions we make. I am sure Mary was deeply hurt many times by yielding to God’s will. She watched her son be beaten and crucified. She had a choice. She could have told the angel she didn’t want to have God’s son. (Luke 1:38)

What choices are we making? Are we responding to God’s will, even though it may hurt ourselves or others? I can’t imagine David running from Saul all those years. He knew he was God’s anointed, but he had to run before he could reign. David could have said, “No, thank you,” but he didn’t. He accepted the call even though it was painful.

We must accept the call of God in our lives, just as others have done before us. We must choose obedience rather than comfort for ourselves or others. If we are to be in God’s will, we must do what God has called us to do. 

May we proclaim, “No matter what the consequences, Lord, I will be obedient and serve you!”

Dr. Worthington has five children and twelve grandchildren. She serves as Principal of Pathway Christian Academy in Goldsboro.