#99: Church/Fellowship as Usual?

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The boy Samuel was serving God under Eli's direction. This was at a time when the revelation of God was rarely heard or seen. (I Samuel 3:1, MSG)

One thing that God must save His church from is [empty] routine. We must be deliberate to ensure that all functions and activities in church are under the supervision or direction of God.

In the scripture for today we see a scenario where a lot of activities were going on in the temple of God. Every Sabbath day, there would be fellowship and a sermon would be given. It was always service as usual. But in the strict sense, God was not revealing Himself so often in those days. Which makes me wonder what they were doing in fellowship.

On the part of Eli, he was always on the altar to give the sermon for the day but He was not hearing from God. For Samuel, Eli did not teach him how to hear from God, so he was serving God under Eli's direction-the only way he knew how. This is where we have to be careful when we are in a position of church leadership. It would have been better if fellowship was put on pause while waiting for God to speak than to be gathering frequently and listening to philosophies of men.

The ultimate scenario is for us to be fervent in the place of our personal altar such that the case that we see in this verse (that the revelation from God was rare) will not be said of in our time.

Prayer: LORD keep me in Your Presence to hear from you. Deliver me from serving You under the directions of men.

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