Day Fourteen

1 Samuel 3:19-4:1

Do you remember being a small child standing on the edge of a pool or a wooden pier, or maybe just an old rock outcropping on the bank of a swimming hole? Can you see a parent or grandparent just out of reach enjoying the water, smiling and holding their arms out towards you, beckoning you to jump to them? In all of my opportunities of being in that situation, regardless of the part played—anxious jumper, calling catcher, or enthusiastic bystander—never has there been a time when the jumper finally jumped that the catcher turned the other way leaving the jumper to flail or sink to the bottom without help.
Never. In all of my experiences, the caller never turned their back to leave the called.

The same is true with us. God calls us, and He does not leave us to fend for ourselves or pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. Those things to which we are all called—seeking the Savior, holy living, generosity, loving our neighbors, prayer, sacrifice, as well as specific callings God places on our individual lives—are never left for us to fulfill on our own. From the beginning to the end, God is with us just as John 15:16 says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last….The one who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.”

And that is what it means when we read, “The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and He let none of his words fall to the ground.” If we will take the obedient leap into our callings, holding nothing back, the Lord is faithful; He will do it, and we will look back and be able to say, “All He did in us was right, not a piece of what He called us to fell to the ground.” Praise be to the God who calls us and stays with us all the way.