IT is recorded in the Bible that the child Samuel was once awakened by a voice calling him, and that he ran to the aged priest, Eli, with the answer, "Here am I." Eli replied that he had not called; but when Samuel had returned to his place, he again heard his name spoken, and again ran to the priest with the words, "Here am I; for thou didst call me." When this had occurred three times, "Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child. Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say. Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place. And the Lord came, and stood, and called as at other times." The child replied as he had been directed by Eli, and straightway received the divine message.
The story is familiar to most of us, yet the simplest Bible narrative, when viewed in the light of Christian Science, assumes new and absorbing interest, and in this one there is much to reward the careful student. The only point, however, which needs to be considered here, is this: that it was only when Samuel was "in his place" that he heard the voice of God calling him. When the priest sent him back to his place, he did as he was told. He did not argue, he did not question, he did not parley nor procrastinate, he did not ask why God could not speak to him there as well as "in his place." He just obeyed the one who knew more than he; and since obedience is often the first step required of us when we seek a greater spiritual illumination, would not some of us, who are turning to this same God for help today, perhaps do well to ask ourselves if we, too, are equally obedient, to those who are trying to bring the message of Truth more clearly to our newly awakened consciousness? When all seems silent, and we listen through the dark for a voice which seems strangely delayed in coming, should we not ask ourselves if we, like Samuel, are in our place?
Have we undertaken a work which is not succeeding? If so, we have only to remember that God, who is the perfect divine Principle of the universe, always sustains that which reflects Him; but He sustains nothing else. If self-will, ambition, desire for recognition, pride, or policy, push any one into a place which is not his, and to which, in the honest last analysis, he has no right whatever, can he look to Principle to keep him there? A Christian Scientist should he happy in his work, whether it be church work or any other kind, for all honest work is work for God, and as such should be a joy and not a task. It should make one's life radiant, should bring to his lips a quicker smile, to his eyes a softer light, to his hand a firmer clasp; and when this is not the case, there is something radically wrong.
