Had little Samuel lived in my house, I am quite certain that God’s call would have gone somewhat differently. It would have started the same.
“Samuel” God would call out.
Samuel would come out of the bedroom and similar to Eli I would say, “Go back to bed.”
Here is where the story would start to part ways. The second time that God calls and Samuel comes out of the bedroom, I am sure my second response would sound less like Eli’s calm “lie down again,” and sound more like, “I thought I told you to go lay down! Now, go get in your bed, 1, 2, if you are not in your bed by three I swear…”
And, the third time Samuel comes out of his room, I am certain that a heavenly visitor showing up in his bedroom would not even cross my mind.
Rather, words that sounds a little bit like this would fly from my mouth: “For the love of…what the heck are you doing up again…I thought I told you to go to bed! Now, you can go to a time-out. No, don’t say anything to me, we don’t speak during our time out, I don’t care what you heard. Now, be quiet and sit in your time out!”
Needless to say, God’s message would have been completely ignored had this all occurred in my house. But, that does cause me to wonder, maybe God’s message has been ignored in my house from time to time.
My children certainly are not sleeping in the Holy of Holies as Samuel was, next to the arc of the covenant, where God might rightly be expected to show up some night. Samuel is in God’s bedroom in the temple. God should be expected to pop by every once and a while.
But, does that not make it even harder for me? Do I even expect that God is going show up in my children’s bedroom, speak to them, and direct them in their paths? Or, am I distracted so much by the day to day chaos of raising children that all the divine stuff might completely go over my head.
It is quite possible, or even likely, that I will miss my opportunity to guide my children back to bed and tell them, as Eli did, to listen carefully to what God is saying. Do I expect God to call out to them? Do I even expect God to call out to me? How about you?
What if one of your friends were to come up to you and tell you that he has found the savior of the world.
“He’s from Nazareth. Come with me and talk to him,” the friend says.
I wonder if we would be open to it? I would probably just respond sarcastically the way that Nathaniel does, “Can anything good come out of a junk hole like Nazareth?” and start researching mental health facilities for my friend.
And, that likely reaction leads me to wonder if we carry too much baggage? And, yes, I mean baggage in the most negative of senses.
Have you ever seen those amazing women from Africa who carry those huge loads on their heads and shoulders for miles. Well, sometimes I wonder if we are like them, only not in an amazing and helpful way, but in a detrimental way.
I wonder if we sometimes carry too many preconceived notions about other people, carry too much pain, carry too many unfulfilled dreams from the past, carry too much daily distraction, too much uncertainly, too much grief, too much school, too much work, too much of whatever is on our minds that it blocks our view of God and plugs our ears to God’s words.
When I allow myself the time to daydream, do you know what I think might sometimes be nice? Just starting over…having a fresh start in certain areas of my life. Would that not be nice?
Have you ever dreamed of dropping everything, dumping all of your baggage, and just starting over? On some days, would that not be amazing?
Only this time, you would dump everything that stresses you for a purpose. You would dump all your baggage so that you could better see and hear and follow Jesus like those first disciples.
Do you want to know who just dropped their baggage in an amazing way? Eli. After-all, he actually entertains the notion that Samuel has something important to say when he gets out of bed that third time.
Even more than that, when Eli hears the message that God tells Samuel, mainly that Eli’s family’s time of running the temple is over because of their sin, Eli responds, “Let it be as God sees fit.”
What? No fits of rage? No sending Samuel to his room? I am pretty sure that my child telling me that I deserve to suffer destruction would not go over well in my home.
But, Eli takes it all in stride.
Now, that is a guy without baggage. That is a guy who is open to whatever and wherever God is leading. That is a guy who has been found by God, and is secure in his relationship with the divine.
Jesus echoes the same sentiment in the garden of Gethsemane as he prays to have his cup of devastation taken away from him. Jesus follows his prayer of distress with, “yet, not as I will, but as you will.” Those are the words of someone who has dropped their baggage and allowed God to speak and to lead.
But, that sort of freedom of the soul does not just come out of nowhere. It just is not possible to simply let the baggage of your life, all that you have learned and clung to for security, fall to the ground if you have not first been given the security that comes with being seen by God.
Being seen. When Nathaniel spouts off his sarcastic Nazareth comment Jesus’ first response is not to rebuke Nathaniel, but rather to see him. Jesus sees Nathaniel for who he is. Jesus values Nathaniel enough to pay attention to him. And, Jesus promises that Nathaniel will see far greater things. Nathaniel is seen, and it makes all the difference.
Only when he is truly seen by God does he trust he is a child of God. Only then can he drop his baggage, and follow, and then be. When he is seen, he can finally be the child of God he was created to be. When he is seen, he is free from the distractions.
Nathaniel is seen by Jesus, and so are you.
The good news is that we are not stuck with our baggage. The good news is that we can be more than our distracted selves. The good news is that God is not done with us and never gives up calling to us, and inviting us to be God’s children.
You are seen, you are free, and you can now be.
Be what God has called you to be. Be the person that the world needs. Be the person that your family and friends need! Be the beloved child of God who is not distracted, but does in fact hear the voice of God calling in the night.
Be the child of God who says “Here I am Lord.”
No comments:
Post a Comment