The Pattern of Samuel, a Man according to God’s Heart caring for God and His Interest

Our work, our behaviour, and our person as God’s people must match the church as the house of God, according to His design and pattern (see Ezek. 43:10-12). God is measuring us not merely by our works or words but according to His house, according to the pattern that He presented in the Bible of His dwelling place, the church as the Body of Christ.

Since God’s house is spiritual, we must be those who are filled with the Spirit, live by the Spirit, walk by the Spirit, serve by the Spirit, walk according to the spirit, worship God in our spirit, serve in our spirit, and overflow with the Spirit to minister the Spirit to others.

We need to allow Christ to grow, increase and expand in our being so that we may corporately express Him and match His enlarged expression (Eph. 3:8, 14-19; Phil. 3:7-14).

The Lord within us aspires that we would go on from the tabernacle church life in the wilderness of our soul (that is, from merely living a good church life in the local churches) to the temple church life with Christ as the reality of the good land in our spirit (that is, to be brought into the reality of the Body of Christ).

In the Old Testament, the tabernacle and the temple are a type of the church as God’s dwelling place, and in the history of the tabernacle, we see that God’s people, Israel, at one point in time did not have any concern for God and His purpose, and so they brought the Ark out on the battlefield, being superstitious in their thinking that they would gain the victory once the Ark is with them.

Instead of repenting, confessing their sins, and returning to God from idols, they tried to usurp God and force Him to be on their side; however, God allowed for the children of Israel to be defeated, for the Ark to be captured, and for Eli’s sons to be killed – He would not be usurped by His people.

We need to be warned from this story and have an aspiration to pray, live, and be persons according to God’s heart and for His economy, realizing that, whenever we would replace God’s testimony and are far away from God, not caring for His interest, we are in degradation.

The Pattern of Samuel, a man according to God’s Heart caring for God and His Interest

Samuel was a Nazarite: he was consecrated to the Lord by his mother Hannah, and he was presented to God for His service from a very young age; he slept in the temple of God, close to the Ark, and he was called by God when he was very young.

Even though Eli, the priest in those days, was not one with God, and his sons were not proper persons, Samuel was one in whom God’s heart was duplicated and who cared only for God and His interest and profit.

In the midst of Israel degradation with the priesthood waning, God raised Samuel to be a person according to His heart, one who cared for God and not for his own profit or interest. Through Samuel God had a way to gain David, and through David, He gained Solomon for the building of His temple (see 1 Sam. 1:27-28; 2:30; 3:1-4, 9-10).

Due to the need and the situation in his time, Samuel appointed his sons as judges, but his sons didn’t follow in his ways but took bribes, perverted justice, and went after unjust gain (see 1 Sam. 8:1-3), and the people of Israel told Samuel this.

Samuel had no intention to build up a kingdom for his descendants, and he was not offended when the people of Israel asked him to anoint a king; Samuel’s concern was not for himself or his own interest but for God and God’s people.

Samuel was so one with God that he did everything according to God’s instructions: he anointed Saul as a king, and later he anointed David as a king even though Saul was reigning (1 Sam. 9:16; 16:1-2).

Samuel was a Nazarite, one who didn’t allow the razor to come upon his head and who didn’t drink any wine; he was absolutely for God, going where God wanted him to go, doing what God wanted him to do, and speaking what God wanted him to speak.

Some Bible students have pointed out that Samuel was a person of high character. The matter of character, however, is not the crucial point regarding Samuel. Many people have a high character, but they are just for themselves, their enterprise, and their kingdom. They are not for God’s kingdom. Samuel was not only high in character; he was high in the Nazarite vow….A Nazarite needs a heart that is a reflection of God’s heart. Unlike Samson, Samuel did not gain a mighty victory by slaughtering a great number of others. On the contrary Samuel was a Nazarite for God’s interest. Although it was not easy for Samuel to stand for God in his particular environment, he cared for God’s interest and he turned the age. According to the Old Testament, Samuel is ranked with Moses in being for God and for God’s interest (Jer. 15:1). (Life-study of 1 & 2 Samuel, pp. 45 46)

Even though Samuel had some human concepts concerning what God asked him to do (for example, he hesitated to go anoint David as king while Saul is reigning), he was a not a self-seeking person but a person according to God’s heart seeking God’s interest and the benefit of God’s people.

Samuel cared for God and for His interest and profit, and he prayed for God’s people. Because Samuel was a person in whom God’s heart was duplicated and who cared only for God and His interest and profit, God could use him to the uttermost to change the age from the judges to the kings.

Samuel was a Levite by birth, a Nazarite by consecration, a priest and prophet and judge, and he initiated the prophethood to replace the waning priesthood in the speaking for God, he terminated the judgeship, and he brought in the kingship.

God today is looking for such persons who are according to His heart and who care only for God and not for their own interests or profit, so that He may use such ones to the uttermost for the building up of the church as the temple of God.

Lord Jesus, we want to be those in whom Your heart is duplicated and who care only for God and for God’s interest and profit. Make us a real Samuel in this age, one who is a duplication of Your heart. Lord, purify our heart with all its motives, inclinations, and interests, so that we may seek only You, care only for You, and desire only Your interest and profit, caring for nothing but the building up of the church as the temple of God on earth for Your habitation and satisfaction!

Samuel was a Nazarite, a Priest, a Prophet, a Judge, and a Man of Prayer

If we read 1 and 2 Samuel we see the wonderful pattern of Samuel who was raised by God to be a person according to God’s heart; he was a Nazarite consecrated to God, a priest faithful to act on God’s behalf, a prophet established by God, a judge, and a man of prayer.

Samuel was a Nazarite consecrated to God absolutely for the fulfillment of His economy; he was a volunteer from his youth to replace any formal serving ones of God for God to fulfill His purpose (see 1 Sam. 1:11, 28). He was offered to God by his mother to be a Nazarite, he was called by God while sleeping in the temple of God at night, and his whole life his attitude was, “Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening”.

We need to be those who are voluntarily consecrated ones to God today, those who listen to the Lord’s word and do what He tells us, speaks what He speaks, go where He tells us to God, and stop when He wants us to stop, so that through us God may have a way to build up the church as the temple of God and end this age. Having the attitude of, Speak, Lord, for I as Your servant is listening! – will make us constituents of the temple church life.

Samuel was a faithful priest who acted on behalf of God; though he was not born in the tribe of Levi or in the house of Aaron, he acted on God’s behalf to appoint and establish kings for the divine government on earth (1 Sam. 2:35). He offered sacrifices on behalf of the people and the king, and he was a priest faithful to act on God’s behalf among His people.

Samuel was a prophet established by God to assist the kings appointed by him as a priest; he spoke God’s word to replace the teaching of the word of God by the old and stale priesthood (1 Sam. 3:20).

Today we need to be those who are not stale or old but fresh and new with the Lord, always enjoying Him in our daily life. We need to walk in newness of life, serve Him in newness of spirit, and be freshly mingled with the Spirit as the fresh oil (see Rom. 8:4; 7:6; Psa. 92:10).

We need to ask the Lord to save us from any staleness, deadness, and oldness, so that we may walk in newness of life and serve in newness of spirit to have God’s word in a fresh way and to have our lips “drip with fresh honey” (Song of Songs 4:11), imparting God’s word to His people.

Samuel was a judge established by God to carry out His governmental administration; he replaced the judging of the people by the old priesthood (1 Sam. 7:15-17).

He was not like the other Nazarites and judges before him who had some personal interest and built their own house, but he cared for God and His interest, and he judged God’s people according to God, carrying out God’s governmental administration to the point that he even replaced king Saul, whom he anointed as a priest, with David, God’s chosen one.

Samuel was a man of prayer who prayed for God’s people; he prayed for them that they would be kept in the way of God, they would be one with God, and they would not be ensnared by the idols of the nations (see 1 Sam. 12:23-24; 7:3-14; 8:6; 15:11).

Because he allowed God’s heart to be duplicated in him, Samuel considered it a sin not to pray for God’s people, and so he prayed for them every day. If we are those according to God’s heart we would consider it a sin not to pray for God’s people, and we will pray for them every day. The reason we are here today still loving the Lord and going on with Him in the church life is because someone is praying for us.

We need to pray for one another that we would be kept in God’s way, we would be one with God, we would not be ensnared by the things in the world to be drawn away from God, and that God’s desire in His will concerning us would be fulfilled.

Lord Jesus, save us from being old and stale: we want to be young and new with You, fresh and living, enjoying You every day as the new One! Lord, we want to walk in newness of life and serve You in newness of spirit! Save us from being old, dead, lukewarm, and stale. We give ourselves to you to be the men of prayer mingled with God who pray for God’s people that God’s desire in His will regarding them would be fulfilled. Oh Lord, make us the Nazarites of today, those who are absolutely consecrated to God for the fulfillment of His economy!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, Ed Marks sharing in the message for this week, and Life-study of 1 & 2 Samuel, msgs. 5-7, 12, 19, 23 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Church as the Temple of God – The Goal of God’s Eternal Economy (2015 Thanksgiving Conference), week 1 / msg. 1, Going On with the Lord from the Tabernacle Church Life to the Temple Church Life.
• All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Samuel ministered to be a God-pleasing priest, / He was absolute for Him; / Samuel gave himself to be a Nazarite, / Saved from death, the world, and sin. (Song on Samuel as a Nazarite)
  # In this godless age / Lord, You need some Samuels / Burdened with a vision clear of Your economy / Where’s Your ark today? / And the ones who’d care for You, / E’en to put themselves aside to gain Your heart’s desire? (Song on being the Nazarites of today)
  # O Lord, we give ourselves afresh, Into Your training hands to be, / Molded, shaped, and worked on daily, To be vessels of Your glory! / May all my life and work declare, Uniqueness of Your recovery / To build Your Body, prepare Your bride, To bring You back, fulfill Your longing! (Song on cooperating with God)