I sometimes think about my childhood and the fortunate circumstances of being raised in a Christian home that kept me at church constantly. Some of my earliest memories stem from experiences at church. I often felt like I lived at the church. Samuel was no different. From the time he was weaned from his mother, he lived (yes, literally, not figuratively as in my case) at the Temple working for the high priest, Eli. "Meanwhile, the boy Samuel served the Lord by assisting Eli." (1 Samuel 3:1)
Despite Samuel's dedicated life in service to the Lord, he "did not yet know the Lord because he had never had a message from the Lord before." (1 Samuel 3:7) How could Samuel not know the Lord when his entire life was spent in service to the Lord? He helped with all the Old Testament rituals of running the Temple. I'm sure He knew the in's and out's of the types of sacrifices and which sacrifices were offered when and how. The Israelites are steeped in knowing God through ritual at the time of Samuel, yet we are told that Samuel does NOT yet know the Lord.
I remember a verse from Hosea, "I want you to show love not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings." (6:6) Christ quotes this verse to the Pharisees, those seeking perfection by keeping the law, twice in Matthew (9:13, 12:7). Obviously there is more to knowing God than head knowledge. We can have lots of head knowledge of God through Bible stories and religious rituals, but unless we allow that knowledge to transform our hearts we do not know God either. It is when God speaks a message to our hearts and we allow Him access to the deepest places to change us into someone that looks more like His Son that we truly know Him.
"Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring." (Hosea 6:3)
