Samuel's Hearing Is Not Instinct

Point: Samuel's first hearing is not private instinct; it is a gift that still needs taught obedience.

After Lazarus's unbinding, I notice a smaller kind of help in 1 Samuel 3. Samuel hears his name and runs to Eli, not because he is foolish, but because he does not yet know how to receive the word being given. The old priest, compromised household and all, still teaches him the posture of a servant who listens.

One thin reading would romanticise Samuel as naturally spiritual, as if the young hear God because they are unspoiled by institutions. That seems too easy. The passage says the word of the Lord was rare, and Samuel needs instruction before he answers rightly.

The opposite thin reading would dismiss Eli entirely because judgement has already been spoken against his house. That also feels too neat. Eli cannot save himself by giving Samuel good counsel, but the counsel is still good. God may use a failing teacher to train a faithful hearer.

John 10 keeps this from becoming a general celebration of inner voices. The sheep hear the shepherd because the shepherd is Christ, not because every impression deserves trust. Hebrews 1 says God's speech comes finally in the Son. My current leaning is that discernment begins humbly: not with confidence in my signal, but with the prayer to hear the Lord as a servant under correction.