The old adage, "Putting the cart before the horse" is referring to reversing the normal, predictable, logical order of things. It originated as far as historians can tell with English writer John Heywood in 1589, who wrote plays, poems, and even proverbs, of which this phrase was part of one of his proverbs. Heywood was comparing two things that were nonsensical: one was cooking a cat in a pan, and the other putting a cart that a horse was to pull in front of the horse instead of behind it.

 

This is a figure of speech that the ancient Greeks referred to as a hysteron proteron. Such a figure of speech implies that the thing that is supposed to come second is put first. The common example cited is of putting on one's shoes before putting on one's socks. For Heywood, a Brit, the 16th Century was a highly agricultural era, and horses and carts were part of their common everyday world, so idioms tied to horses were quite popular. It would be absurd for a farmer to put a cart ahead of the horse intended to pull it. Yet people can often do things unwisely out of order, only to discover they don't work.  I once had a member of one of our congregations who, when we would go out for dinner, would eat his desert first and his meal second. I never quite knew what to make of all that.

 

The reason this figure of speech comes to mind when I read this powerful story of the call of Samuel as a young boy is because of where much of the current emphasis in the Western Church has been in the last century and a half in relation to the Gospel. We have now become "technique-driven" in terms of conversion. "How To" methodologies are not Biblical, they are actually consumer-driven and rooted in the ethos of the Western contemporary culture. Yet, we used them all the time in the Church. The implications of "how to" techniques is often not seen until the "how to" fails the one who is putting it to use.

 

For example:

 

"How To" - get your healing 

"How To" - get your prayers answers

"How To" - get your breakthrough

"How To" - be born again

 

The list could go on and on. However, the point is clear. I am not saying that God has not met people in this technique-driven approach, however, it isn't Biblically accurate or sound, and there are all sorts of things that God does in spite of our tendency to be seemingly totally oblivious as to what the Sacred Text reveals in terms of the whole counsel of God. Such is the dilemma of the consumer-driven, technocratic, materialistic approach to the Gospel that has crept into the Church in North America, and been exported sadly around the world.

 

This account of Samuel's call is important, as are all the accounts in Scripture of how God calls us for this one reason: Our call always precedes the life-long process of conversion. In North America, we have indeed put the cart before the horse in this regard, and we have reduced conversion to a momentary experience when we respond to an invitation to be saved, and then we proceed to teach people about what their calling is in life. Call comes before conversion, not vice versa, and conversion isn't a momentary episode at an altar, it is a life-long process.

 

To repeat, the Call is first and of primary importance, and the conversion is a process that is life-long. That Beloved, is clearly what Scripture teaches, regardless of what popular Evangelicalism wants to convince us of. We have actually had the audacity to tell people that if they pray a certain prayer, and then say what we tell them to say, they are saved. Again, I am not saying God hasn't used this when we do it, however, I am going to say on Biblical authority, God uses it in spite of our obliviousness to what Scripture actually teaches. However, we have become so "conditioned" by this that we unconsciously equate it with how we are "born again". 

 

So, let's take a moment and consider a few things in relation to being called by God. To be called by the Triune God is an invitation to intimacy with the Father, Son, and Spirit, and it comes with a deep sense of urgency. It requires a response. Ironically, Samuel doesn't respond immediately to God. In fact, for the first 3 times when God calls, Samuel runs to Eli, for many, many reasons. It is important to realize this, that it takes time to discern the call of the Lord, and therefore there is not an immediate recognition of the fact that it is God calling. Samuel doesn't yield and surrender to the call, until he becomes fully aware that the One who is calling him is Yahweh himself. That requires instruction from a spiritually and physically blind priest, who himself has long abandoned faithfulness to his calling, and has to be jarred three times by a young boy's insistence that his mentor was calling him. It wasn't until, after dismissing Samuel three times, that he discerned it was the Lord himself calling the boy. There was a radical shift taking place in the house of Eli, and the call of Samuel is the catalyst for it all. Eli has already been given prophetic warning that his days are numbered, and he slowly realizes that when it comes to fresh direction for the nation of Israel, "a little child shall lead them" (prefiguring the advent of Christ in the fullness of times.

 

If you have never had an encounter with the self-revealing God, since only God can reveal God, it takes time for our flawed and limited humanness to recognize what is transpiring. One of the great secrets hidden in the story of Samuel's call is that the first three times, Samuel only hears a voice coming from in from behind the veil in the holy of holies, while he is lying in front of that veil before the altar of incense. Len Sweet is famous for saying that when God speaks, he speaks in "surround sound". When you put on a highly professional headset to listen to music or something that is recorded, while the sound is coming through the speakers into your ears, you hear the sound as if it is everywhere from inside of you to outside of you.

 

Samuel didn't know "where" the Voice was coming from, and it sounded like it was coming from every point of the compass. The sound however was coming from what was directly in front of where he was reposing (it's hard to hear the Voice of the Lord when you are busy and distracted, its in rest and stillness that we hear him calling). When Samuel heard the Voice, since he didn't know where it was coming from, as it filled the entire space he was occupying, he moved in the opposite direction, towards a fellow human being, who was lying outside the holy place (because he had abandoned his responsibility to be in the place where he now had replaced himself with a young boy who had no awareness whatsoever of spiritual things). Instead of moving toward the Voice he moved away from the Voice towards the most familiar voice he knew in relation to the sacred space he occupied. This blind high-priest was his spiritual mentor. And, at first, he was as in the dark and blind, and annoyed that his sleep was interrupted by the claims of a little boy who thought he heard him calling him.

 

One thing is for certain, even though it was late at night, and Samuel had to keep watch over the Menorah, so that the oil would burn throughout the night, which meant he had to be watchful the whole night long, he was lying down yet not asleep. His mentor, was both in deep sleep, and totally unconscious of what was transpiring. His own incongruence made him lethargic and he was asleep in the light. Yet, the writer tells us, "God's lamp hadn't gone out yet". This is a form of double-entendre. At a level of the natural, Samuel was maintaining the oil levels in the Menorah and making sure the wicks were trimmed so they kept burning brightly. Secondly, in the realm of the intent of God, though there was corruption in the culture of Israel due to corruption in the priesthood because Eli and his sons stopped bearing witness to the Light of Yahweh, and became darkened in their own understanding, Samuel represented the hope of a light that would once again shine brightly in Israel to give hope for the future.

 

The fourth time, it says, Then the Lord came and stood there, calling just as before, "Samuel, Samuel!". Who stepped out from beyond the veil and stood to reveal himself to Samuel? This is none other than the Pre-Incarnate Christ, the Second Person of the Godhead. In addition, he calls Samuel by name, letting Samuel know that he is known! When the Lord called Samuel and calls us by name, that has a powerful influence on us and causes us to yield and surrender, heart, mind, will, and body.

 

We have been on a journey towards the awareness of how to stay open to the Lord, recognizing him and ourselves, being expectant of Jesus sightings and Spirit moments. It's all about the integrating of our head and our heart, so we can say yes to the call, and be continually converted to become more of who he called and calls us to be! 

 

Sunday we are going to continue to explore the integration of the head and the heart. Come expecting, and come with your hand full. What do I mean by your hand full? Come bringing someone else by the hand who needs to discern that the Lord is calling them by name. Let's lean into Sunday with expectation.

 

See you Sunday!

 

Love,

 

Bishop