April 23, 2022

I Samuel 3: 19 (NIV)

The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of his words fall to the ground.

The king’s herald is to deliver the king’s message as clearly as possible without altering it.*

“Don’t waste your breath,” they say when your words are about to be ignored. If I could take all those wasted breaths and tag them on at the end of my life, I could increase my lifespan by several more years. There are few things that I dislike more than talking to the air.

When the Bible says that God let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground, it probably doesn’t mean that everyone listened to everything he said. As a matter of fact, we know that even his own sons didn’t pay much attention to what he said. In First Samuel 8: 3, is reported the sad news that they “turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.” But God spoke through Samuel, whether anyone listened or not. He gave him words of power and truth.

We should seek this same blessing for our own words. Ask God to speak through you. Ask to speak the truth boldly. As a writer and a group leader, I often pray that my words will be God’s words and that they will change lives. And even though we may never know if what we say makes any difference in the world, we should desire that God bless us as he did Samuel and allow none of our words to fall to the ground.

Our responsibility is not to convert the world. Our responsibility is simply to hold out the message of the kingdom.*