The child Samuel proves that even little flames can show the difference between light and darkness.
Immediately following the conclusion of Hannah’s glorious prayer (1 Sam 2:1-10), we catch the interplay between light and darkness with which we are so familiar in this world. Listen to these two sentences: “The child ministered to the Lord before Eli the priest. Now the sons of Eli were corrupt; they did not know the Lord” (vv 11-12). This will be emphasized throughout the chapter (see v 17 contrasted with v 18; vv 22-25 with v 26). We are not in this world to drive out the darkness but to shine for the Lord. A little candle cannot be overcome by the darkest room. It might be good today to sing—and then live—a stanza of the chorus, “This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine” (Harry D. Loes) as Samuel did in the house of Eli. Of course, light causes growth, and in Samuel’s case it could be measured physically because “his mother used to make him a little robe, and bring it to him year by year when she came…to offer the yearly sacrifice” (v 19). But there was also spiritual growth, expressed in the words, “the child Samuel grew before the Lord” (v 21). This is the growth we desire to see in our offspring, and I’m sure it was encouraging to his mother to see it, in spite of the hostile environment around him. Like a sapling buffeted by winds, the true life of God within will cause us to “take root downward, and bear fruit upward” (Isa 37:31), even in the harshest conditions. So, as an unnamed prophet warned old Eli, God declared He had had it with Eli’s worthless sons (see 2 Sam 2:27-36). They were incorrigible and would be cut off in one day. The Lord was preparing to replace them with “a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind” (v 35). And Samuel was almost ready!