What if God called you in the night?
Samuel was a boy who lived at God’s house and helped the old priest Eli. One night a voice called his name. Three times he ran to Eli; three times Eli said, “I didn’t call you.” Then Eli understood, and told Samuel what to say: “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”
Samuel was a boy who lived at God’s house and helped the old priest Eli. One night a voice called his name. Three times he ran to Eli; three times Eli said, “I didn’t call you.” Then Eli understood, and told Samuel what to say: “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”
About 5 minutes: 3 choices and 2 ways-of-knowing stops. Kids play Samuel waking in the dark, and old Eli working out what’s going on. Written for the youngest players, and for any child who has ever been told they’re too young to matter.
Ages 4–9
Yes, though rarely out loud. You can say: God speaks through the Bible, through people who love you, and through a quiet sense that something is right. Samuel needed Eli to help him recognize it. Most of us do. One rule worth saying out loud: God never asks a child to keep a secret from their parents or to do something unkind. If a voice or a person says that, it isn’t God, and they should tell you.
1 Samuel 3. Samuel, dedicated to God as a child by his mother Hannah (chapter 1), serves at the sanctuary at Shiloh under the aged priest Eli. God calls him by name three times at night; each time he runs to Eli. Eli realizes it is the Lord and tells him to answer, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” God’s message (verses 11–18) is a judgment on Eli’s house because of his corrupt sons; Samuel is afraid to repeat it, Eli insists, and accepts it. Verses 19–21: Samuel grows up as a recognized prophet. Our story stops at verse 10 and skips to 19.