Bobby Bosler: Welcome to Thee Generation Podcast. I’m Bobby Bosler, and I’m speaking to you today from Fairmont, West Virginia. My family and I were taking a couple of weeks in between meetings, and there are several young men, a couple who have traveled on our team over the last couple of years, who are from this church.

The church is currently looking for a pastor, so we had some open time in our schedule and thought we’d come and help fill the pulpit. Boy, they’ve been putting us to work, and God has been opening doors in the community. It’s really exciting what the Lord is doing here.

But just recently, I’ve been studying for a message, and I wanted to share a few thoughts from this message with you young people here on the podcast. Particularly, my heart has been stirred by the example of Samuel. Samuel’s a young man who, frankly, would not have existed were it not for the desperate faith of his mother.

His life is one that shouldn’t have happened, honestly. If you know my story, you know I really identify with that concept. And not only did God bring Samuel into existence, God had a purpose for that young man, and his life made a difference.

One of the things that I want to take a look at—and I’m not sure how much I’m going to get through here in this podcast—is Samuel, the prophet, in the book of 1 Samuel. His life really did defy the odds. You know what?

I might be talking here today, and there may be some young people who are listening to this podcast, and you might think, “My life is an accident. I shouldn’t exist. What in the world am I here for?” Maybe you find yourself surrounded by wickedness in your school or in your home, and you feel like there’s no way you could ever fulfill your purpose for God because of your environment.

Maybe you find yourself in a situation where the authorities and leaders in your life aren’t obeying God. They don’t listen to God, and you might be tempted to give up in despair and think, “I really can’t thrive in my walk with God. I really can’t fulfill God’s purpose for my life.” And can I encourage you here today?

Yes, you can. Yes, you can. Again, I’m probably not going to be able to dig into all of the specifics here, but in 1 Samuel chapter number one, we read a little bit of the background of the birth of Samuel.

And I’ll give you the long and the short of it. Basically, Samuel came from a bit of a dysfunctional home, shall we say. His father, Elkanah, had two wives.

Yeah, that’s not ideal. One of them, Peninnah, had children, but the other one, Hannah, who is the key character in the story in chapter one, was barren. She was unable to have children.

And here’s the thing: that was a sore subject in the Elkanah household. You know, honestly, Peninnah—or Penina, or however you say her name—made things really rough for the other wife. She ended up teasing her and making fun of her, just really making her life absolutely miserable.

And frankly, there shouldn’t have been two wives in the home in the first place. So there was clearly disobedience in the home. It says in chapter one that Elkanah clearly favored Hannah over Peninnah.

And so there was favoritism going on in the home, and that hurts. There was disappointment in the home. Hannah, again, like I said, couldn’t have children, and that was greatly disappointing to her.

There was fighting that took place in the home. Once again, Peninnah pretty much made her miserable. She provoked her sore, it says in verse 6, and it just pretty much embittered Hannah in her life there.

There was also insensitivity in the home. Elkanah, when he realized that his wife was all upset, said, “Oh, aren’t I better to you? What is it then?

Ten sons.” And guys, if you end up married with a wife, don’t say that kind of thing. It’s just not very sensitive. And then we find that there was also bitterness in the home.

It says specifically in verse number 10, after Hannah went to the temple, “And she was in bitterness of soul.” And so I’m saying all this to say the home environment, before Samuel ever even entered into the picture, wasn’t ideal. It was dysfunctional. There were sinful choices.

It was a bit of a war zone at times. Though Elkanah did obey the Lord in some senses, in many other ways it just was not a good home. Now, here’s the thing.

You might think, “Oh boy, before Samuel even enters into the picture, he is behind the eight ball, so to speak. He is in a non-advantageous position.” But here’s the thing—here’s the thing that encourages me: even though he came from a dysfunctional home, God still wanted him. God still had a plan through his life.

You may know the story, or you may not. You can study it sometime for yourself. In the middle part of chapter one, Hannah went to the temple and sought God.

In fact, she was so desperate in her prayers that the priest, Eli, who is going to come into the picture a little bit later, thought she was drunk. She made it clear to him, “No, I’m just desperate with the Lord.” And he basically said, “All right, God’s going to give you what you want. Go on ahead.” And she was excited.

And one thing led to another. Not only did God grant her request, but she had also vowed that if God gave her a son, she would dedicate him to the Lord. She would give him back to God to serve him all the days of his life.

Well, God answered her prayer, and God expected her to fulfill her vow. After she’d weaned the baby and he was old enough, she did what she promised, and she gave Samuel to the Lord. She says, “Lent him to the Lord.” The idea of that word lent is to return him to the Lord.

And so now we find Samuel—a young man who should not have existed, a young man who came from a dysfunctional home—now smack dab in the center of God’s will. And can I tell you, young people, even if your home situation is less than ideal, if you’re alive, God wanted you to be. And if you’re alive, God has a purpose for your life.

God doesn’t just want you to exist. He wants you to thrive in spite of the circumstances that you come from. Okay, so as we continue along in the story, we find that Samuel came into the picture because God wanted him to be there, and God had a plan and purpose for his life.

And yet we also find in chapter 2, after Hannah prayed and gave this beautiful prayer, she gave Samuel to the Lord. In verse 12, it says the sons of Eli were sons of Belial. They were scoundrels.

They were fiends. They were not good people. As Samuel grew up in Eli’s household there at the temple, he lived among wickedness.

If you study the story—which, again, I don’t have time to go into all of it—Hophni and Phinehas, and even Eli to some extent, were literally stealing meat from the Lord’s sacrifices. They were threatening people who didn’t give them what they wanted. They were hypocrites, tarnishing the reputation of the sacrifice and of the Lord.

They were committing immoral practices with people there at the temple. We find that Eli wasn’t properly dealing with his sons. It said later on that he didn’t even restrain his sons.

And even when he did talk to them and say, “You shouldn’t ought to have done that,” his children just did what they wanted to do anyway. And so you find that Samuel not only came from a dysfunctional home; the life that he was existing in was surrounded by wickedness.

And yet we find in chapter 2 and verse 26, “And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favor both with the Lord, and also with men.” Here we find that even though Samuel was surrounded by wickedness, God protected him and preserved him. Even though his older peers, the sons of Eli, were absolutely wicked and scoundrels—sons of Belial, as the text says—Samuel grew. He grew.

Yes, physically he grew, but he grew spiritually. He grew socially. He thrived even in an environment of wickedness.

I recognize, once again, some of you young people might find yourself looking all around. Maybe you live in a dysfunctional home. Maybe you’ve got siblings or friends, or maybe even the kids in your youth group, all around you.

You seem to be surrounded by unrighteousness. You seem like everywhere you turn around, nobody is obeying God. In fact, they seem to be doing everything they can to disobey God and get as much fun out of life as they can.

And you might think, “Is it even possible for me to thrive if I come from a dysfunctional home and live in an environment of wickedness?” And can I tell you, if Samuel is any indication, yes, it is possible. Listen, God protected him. God preserved him.

God helped him. God developed him, and he can do the same for you, young people. Don’t be discouraged by your home.

Don’t be discouraged by your environment. But there’s one more thing I want to point out here. As we continue on in chapter 2, in fact, as we get down to verse number 27, we find it says, “There came a man of God unto Eli.” Eli was the priest.

His sons were his heirs. They would one day be the high priests; at least one of them, theoretically, would be the high priest. Once again, his sons were wicked.

He was not doing what he ought to do. He was being a bad parent, frankly, and not controlling his children. And it says a man of God came to Eli and said unto him—and I’m not going to go through the whole thing; you can read it on your own—but he basically says, “Didn’t I choose the sons of Aaron out of all of the people of Israel to be the priests?

And you are living for your own fat selfishness, and you are despising the responsibility that I’ve given you.” You’re not obeying the Lord. And God pronounced judgment on Eli. Again, I’ve got a whole bunch of notes here on this.

He would turn his dynasty into demotion. He would slash strength and shorten lifespans. He’d bring poverty surrounded by others’ wealth.

He would rain sadness and grief upon any survivors. He would condemn his sons to untimely and meaningless deaths. He would replace him and his family with someone more worthy.

He would exchange luxury for the life of a beggar. It did not look good in the warnings of judgment that God pronounced on Eli. And again, I want to remind you, Samuel was living with Eli.

Samuel was observing the wickedness of the sons of Eli. Whether he was there or not to hear this judgment, I don’t know. But here’s the thing that’s so profound about this warning of judgment, and it’s found in verse 37 of chapter 2 in 1 Samuel.

If you look at 1 Samuel chapter 2, you will see the judgment ends at verse 36, and in verse 37, we find there is no verse 37. In other words, Eli was warned by God about his wickedness, and he did nothing. God showed up on his front doorstep and said, “This awful, self-serving selfishness is going to end your service, your privilege, your dynasty.

It’s over, man.” And you would think, if Eli was a man with a responsive heart toward the Lord, that he would get on his face and say, “You’re right.” You would think that he would repent, that he would weep, that he would change something, and yet all we get is silence. And I think what we can learn from this is that Samuel watched people ignore God’s warnings.

Maybe you have people in your life, and God’s trying to get their attention. Maybe it’s older siblings. Maybe it’s even your parents.

You see God showing up in their life, and maybe they’re not obeying. Maybe they’re not doing right. Maybe you find yourself in an unsaved home, and God’s trying to get their attention.

God’s bringing all kinds of hardship into their lives, and they are not listening to God. They are not softening their hearts. They are not responding to the Lord.

And you might think, “I’m coming from a dysfunctional home, surrounded by wickedness, and even my parents or other people in my life are ignoring God’s warning. Is it even possible for me to thrive?” And I say, absolutely. Because here’s the thing: even though Samuel watched people ignore God’s warnings, he listened to God.

You get into chapter 3, and in chapter 3 and verse number 1, it says, “The child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli.” And again, I’ll just tell you the story. Samuel was asleep and heard a voice saying, “Samuel, Samuel,” and he thought it was Eli.

So he jumped up and went to check with Eli and said, “Hey, what do you need?” And Eli said, “It wasn’t me; go back to bed.” And again, “Samuel, Samuel.” Samuel jumped up and went to Eli. Again, many of you have heard this story; maybe some of you haven’t. But God was speaking to Samuel.

Eventually, Eli had a hunch that maybe Samuel wasn’t just getting up because he wanted a drink of water in the middle of the night or was lonely, but perhaps God was really trying to talk to him.

Eli said, “Hey, next time you hear this, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.’” And Samuel, when he heard the voice of God, said, “God, I’m all ears.” You see, Samuel was somebody who, even though Eli was ignoring God’s warnings, listened to God. He heard the voice of God.

And God gave him a pretty difficult message—basically said, “Everything I promised that I would do in chapter 2 to Eli, yeah, I’m going to do it and more.” And he not only heard the voice of God; he spoke the words of God. The next day, Eli said, “Hey, did God talk to you?” And Samuel was like, “I’m not telling.” Then Eli said, “Tell me everything God said.” And he did.

Even in an uncomfortable moment, he spoke the words of God. And what we find as we get to the end of chapter 3 is that God began to establish him. It says Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground.

And all Israel from Dan, even to Beersheba, knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord. It says the Lord appeared again in Shiloh, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord, and the word of Samuel came to all Israel. And we find this young man who came from a dysfunctional home, who was surrounded by wickedness, whose leaders didn’t even listen to God.

He did listen to God, and he thrived. He thrived against all odds. This is not just some Bible story.

This is reality, young people. You might find yourself in a very disadvantageous kind of circumstance. But if you will open your heart, if you will seek God for his provision and protection, and if you’ll rest in the fact that if you’re alive, he has a purpose for you—if you will, in addition to that, listen to his voice, speak his words, and work his works—he will lift you up.

He will step into your life and use you to make a difference in this country, in your neighborhood, in your home, in your school, and in your world. You know, young people, Samuel was a young man who simply surrendered to the Lord. He believed God and relied upon him to make a difference.

And he thrived against all odds. And so can you. I hope this has been an encouragement to you, young people.

I don’t know all the circumstances that you come from, but I do know this: God is on the throne, and God wants to use you. So surrender your life to him and depend upon his power to turn the world upside down with the gospel. Thanks for listening.