Day 35

 

The Shopping Trip

 

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."

 

1 Samuel 3:6

 

Cathy and I had just been married a short while when we went on a shopping trip to the mall. The purpose of the trip was to buy her a new dress. Having sold shoes in shopping malls, working my way through school, a trip to the mall was not the onerous task for me that it is for a lot of men. I actually enjoyed shopping at the mall. I was about to learn that shopping at the mall once you are married is totally different.

 

We went to store after store and Cathy tried on dresses. There were several I thought were fine and I told her so. For some reason I couldn't fathom we kept looking. I would see another that looked okay and would say something like, "That one is pretty good. I like that." But the search continued.

We finally had been to just about every store in the mall and a dress had not been purchased and I did not understand why. Then I saw another store we had not tried. I said, "We haven't tried that store!"

 

Cathy's reply to me was, "Do you think I am fat?"

 

The shopping trip ended and we went home with out a purchase. Later on when I summed up enough courage to ask what had happened I was informed the store was a Lane Bryant store and that it was a store for plus sized women. I had no idea that was the case.

 

Once the dust settled on that I asked how come she hadn't picked out a dress. I was informed that was my fault too. She was not looking for me to say, "That one is nice" or "That looks okay." What she wanted to hear was, "Stop right here! We have got to get that dress. Alert the media! Where is my camera? We have got to get that dress!"

 

Okay, maybe she didn't want me to be that dramatic but to be fair she could have waited a long, long time before I gave her the "Wow!" answer she was looking for. It wasn't that I didn't think my wife was pretty it's just that like a lot of men my "wows" were reserved for the NFL or the NBA.

 

It was a communication problem. I was not communicating with her how I felt about her. She was not communicating with me what she needed from me. She was hoping I would figure it out on my own but I confess that it probably never would have happened. While I am confessing I have to admit that even though I am aware of that sort of thing now it still often times zips by me without my noticing.

 

In one of my favorite stories in the Bible, God is calling Samuel and Samuel thinks that it is Eli talking. Eli has enough sense to figure out it is God talking to Samuel. Once Samuel understands that God is speaking to him he listens to what God has to say. From then on, through out 1 Samuel, we see Samuel and God communicating.

 

I believe God still speaks to us. Like young Samuel we miss what he is saying sometimes. To give us help God has a lot of it written down for us; it is called the Bible. The Holy Spirit can help us understand what God is saying to us inside and outside of his word. And we know that God will never tell us something that contradicts his word.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read 1 Samuel 3:1-21

 

• When Samuel came to understand it was God speaking to him what did he say to God?
• As he grew up how much attention did Samuel pay to God's words?
• How did God continue to reveal himself to Samuel?