God calls Samuel

3 The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.

² One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. ³ The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord, where the ark of God was. ⁴ Then the Lord called Samuel.
Samuel answered, “Here I am.” ⁵ And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.
⁶ Again the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
“My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.”
⁷ Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.
⁸ A third time the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. ⁹ So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
¹⁰ The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”
Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
¹¹ And the Lord said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle. ¹² At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family—from beginning to end. ¹³ For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons blasphemed God,^[a] and he failed to restrain them. ¹⁴ Therefore I swore to the house of Eli, ‘The guilt of Eli’s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.’”

The best part of these verses is that God spoke to Samuel, and he had mistaken God's voice for Eli's voice. The chapter starts with saying the word of God was rare and there were not many visions. It really shows that at that time, sin was prevalent(even priest's son sinned in the house of God, against God.) God hates sin, and if we have sin in our life we are further away from God. If one keeps sinning, how can God trust His plan to one? Only those who are Christ like will be given more. For those who honor God and come humble before Him, God exalts them. God uses the humble. 
I am sure that if Eli's son came before God and said, God i am sorry and i am wrong, God would not be like... Okay, you sinned and I am still going to take you away. There would be punishment, but it would not be as severe as  if they did nothing and continue on sinning( even though Eli confronted them). Today we really thank Jesus for dying on the cross for all our sins. because of that, we are no longer in bondage, but we are set free in Him. We no longer have to face judgement now as it is delayed. Without Him we would be facing God's righteous judgement. But now, all we need to do is to ask for Jesus to come into our life to save all of us. However, we must not take advantage of that, but build that relationship with Him! 

We live in a world of disbelief, sometimes God is indeed speaking, but do we answer? Our world is very similar to Samuel's sinful, corrupted. Lean closer to Christ and dont leave!