Home and Garden television produces a program titled Hidden Potential hosted by Brandie Malay and architect/designer Barry Wood. Homebuyers are looking for a new home in a certain price range in their city. They are taken to three different homes that are not ready-to-move-in quality. The premise of the show is that the architect/designer will renovate the room by computer-generated graphic designing through his own personal redesign of that house. These computer-generated graphics will showcase the home’s “hidden potential” by knocking out a wall, enlarging the space, renovating a disastrous bathroom, putting new cabinets in a dilapidated kitchen or enhancing the front entrance. All of this will make a dramatic difference. At the end of each episode the homebuyer must choose one of the three “hidden potential” houses to turn into their dream home.
The scripture text takes us to a time period in Israel’s history (1050-1000 BC) when Israel went through a series of ugly house destroying problems, including a series of national, cultural, and religious crises, and a total breakdown of law and order within its society. Compounded problems shattered much of the external beauty of Israel by the threat of enemies like the Philistines who pushed their border in the southwest coastal region into the territories of Israel through raids, torture, and murder. Israel’s house structure was also shattered by charges that the priestly family in charge of the Tabernacle at Shiloh was corrupt and abusive in their dealings with the worshipers. This is the context in which God calls a spiritual and national architect/designer to bring a new design of the hidden potential for Israel’s house. This architect/designer’s name is Samuel.
The circumstance of Samuel’s birth begins like other key biblical figures, such as Isaac, Jacob, Samson, and John the Baptist. In this case, a desperate barren woman named Hannah was pleading with God for a child. During an annual pilgrimage to the tabernacle at Shiloh, she strikes a bargain with God. If God would grant her a son, she would consecrate him as a Nazirite and give him back to God for his service at the tabernacle. Hannah returned home with an assurance from the priest, Eli, that God would answer her petition. As Paul Harvey would say, “And here is the rest of the story.” Hannah conceives and gives birth to a son whom she called Samuel. True to her word and as an act of worship she gives Samuel to Eli to raise and to serve at God’s discretion.
The Bible declares, “... the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord” (1 Samuel 2:21) and “... the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the Lord and with men” (1 Samuel 2:26).
Samuel was to become a man who would bring needed renovations. “Like his predecessors, Moses and Joshua, he called the people to return to God with all their heart, to put away the foreign gods that were among them and to serve him alone (8:3). Samuel faithfully served the nation as a charismatic military leader, priest, prophet, circuit judge, and wise counselor."1
How did he serve his people so faithfully? There are three characteristics that produce a man who could bring out Israel’s hidden potential.
Samuel Was Available To God
Samuel wanted to be available to God for his use, his purpose, his goals, his aims! A prayer from an unknown author echoes Samuel’s heart.
Almighty and eternal God, so guide my mind, so fill my imagination so control my will, that I may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated unto you; and then use me, I pray, as you will, and always to your glory, and the welfare of your people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.2
That should also be our prayer! We are offering ourselves to God to do as he pleases. God would not abandon his people without proper leadership. He wanted to provide a leader to guide them through the dark dreary days of their existence. God would not force a “yes” out of Samuel, but offered him an opportunity to respond. Samuel had to first make himself available. Making ourselves available for the vision God has for us is accomplished by:
* waiting for the vision God has for us,
* acting on the vision God has for us,
* becoming energized by the vision God has for us,
* loyalty to the vision God has for us,
* liberty in the vision God has for us, and
* living the vision God has for us.
Samuel Was Attentive To God
The priest, Eli, was faithful in transmitting the faith of his generation to the next through Samuel. When God was calling Samuel, the boy thought it was the voice of Eli. Samuel ran to where Eli was sleeping and said, “Here am I.” Three times Samuel appears before Eli. Finally Eli realizes that it is God who is speaking to the child and tells him to be attentive to God’s voice.
We need to be attentive to God’s voice in our day. God speaks to us through our prayer and meditation. Prayer is not a platform to impress others. It is not a show of piety but a sincere desire to listen to God. It is a place we retreat to get direction, guidance, encouragement, help, strength, and courage. It is not a place to plead or beg or hammer away at God. It is a place where we can connect with him in specific ways. We need to talk with God like he is our friend ... because he is our friend! God knows exactly what we think and how we feel. We do not need to hide anything from him but rather listen to what he wants.
Charles Swindoll relates that the late Dr. Donald Barnhouse of a generation ago once came to his congregation and made a bold statement, “Prayer changes nothing!” There was hushed silence throughout the church. Swindoll writes that Barnhouse’s statement “was designed to make Christians realize that God is sovereignly in charge of everything. Our times are literally in his hands. No puny human being by uttering a few words in prayer takes charge of events and changes them. God does the shaping, the changing, it is he who is in control ... except in one minor detail. Prayer changes me."3
So in prayer, as you become attentive, follow these guidelines:
* Tell God all that is on your heart.
* Tell God your troubles and let him bring comfort and advice.
* Tell God the joys of your life that he may refine them.
* Tell God your longings that he may purify and sanctify them.
* Tell God your fears that he may help you conquer them.
* Tell God your temptations that he may give you strength to endure them.
* Tell God your hurts so that he may heal and bind them.
* Tell God everything and he will be attentive!
Prayer is heart desire and all possible effort. Not words, not forms of speech; these may mean much or nothing. God’s eyes are on the heart, the longing, struggling desire, with the outstretched thought and hand to utmost tension.