The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was sleeping in the Tabernacle near the Ark of God.
1 Samuel 3:3 NLT
The verse printed above seems pretty straightforward, until you begin to think about it. First, why is a young boy, who is by no means an ordained priest, sleeping in the Tabernacle? If someone is sleeping there, why isn’t it Eli, the high priest, or his sons? Second, what is this about the lamp of God not having yet gone out? Leviticus 24:1-4 is quite explicit that the lamps on the lampstand must be kept burning continually, never allowed to go out.
What had happened is this: as the years had passed, especially the period of the Judges, the priests had become more and more lax about the commands that God had given about their behavior in worship or in life. That is made very specific in 1 Samuel 2. Eli’s sons are called scoundrels, who demanded the best meat from the sacrifices for themselves, rather than the meat God had specified for them. They apparently learned this from their father who is accused of making himself fat on such meat (2:29; 4:18). But they went much further and had sex with the women who served at the gate. Eli fussed at them for such behavior but did not stop them.
So what does this have to do with us? Just this. How careful are you about the lamp of God in your life? How careful am I? The plain truth about life is that unless we are endlessly vigilant, things tend to run down. Is my passion for the Lord and his ways what it once was? Once we did everything necessary to keep that passion hot, in public and private worship, in service to others in his name, in study of Scripture, in continuing prayer. But things run down, don’t they? This is one of the reasons churches used to schedule regular revival meetings. Oil lamps, such as the Bible is envisioning, never get brighter when left untended. They always get dimmer and go out. So does spiritual life. In this new year, don’t play the part of Eli and his sons. What do you need to do to tend the lamp of God in your life? Burn more brightly, not less.
Called To Be Transformed 