Here are some interesting insights that might be applicable to the moment you and I are living in, with the placings wherein God has set us. Take your imagination and visit Samuel’s young life, having been left by his mother in the service of his God and learning what it is to be 1st given to God whilst being skilled in an environment less than suitable for a young child. Having been trained to hear God amongst a priesthood had forgotten or chosen to forget how to hear God. Young Samuel is experiencing quite a challenging environment as he seeks to faithfully serve God in the between time the zone of moving form to another time.

He had to deal with:

The perplexing paradox of Eli
Incredible patience of God with the corrupt priesthood
Everything in Samuel’s Heart responded to Eli’s righteous exhortations, whereas nothing in him corresponded to Hophni or Phinehas’s lifestyle
The challenge of maintaining sensitivity to the voice of God
His deepening pain over what he was hearing from God and yet what he saw
The growing awareness that God would not allow the situation forever
The inner grief knowing that God would remove Eli as well as his sons
He did not try to do God’s job for him but held to the function God had given him to do, that is he surveyed, just like on the Lord in the temple
There is no reference to Samuel’s involvement in the loss of the Ark of the Lord to the Philistines, nor its return to Israel. The opening words showed he was ready for the moment; he recognised a signal from heaven to initiate a dramatic change in the nation “…if you are really serious…” 1 Sam. 7:3 (NLB)
Despite the spiritual darkness of his time, being trained as it was to a failing Eli, yet Samuel’s heart burned with passion and for God.
He kept faith in the covenant promises, the covenant purpose of God for the generation in which he lived and breathed

He was sustained by a continuing prophetic revelation of God which kept the little flame burning in his heart “the Lord appeared again at Shiloh, because the Lord revealed himself…by the word of the Lord. Thus the word of Samuel came to all” 1 Sam. 3:21-4:1

Now the Lord not had a word for Samuel, if Samuel did not have a word Israel would not have been provide a word.

When the prophetic word comes:

It provokes change in attitude
It focuses the purpose of God so that you do not fall victim to forces that would love you to deviate from the Divine Purpose
It carries with it the wisdom essential to your establishing the gains already made, while propelling you forward to secure new gains, this is wonderfully pictured in Nehemiah when he is urging the people have sword and trowel in hand. A picture that showed to protect themselves what had been accomplished while working out what they were building.
It comes with passion and conviction as it is known as God speaking
In our day let us cultivate, create and be the sustainers of the prophetic passion, let us be those that work with what God has spoken, let us be those that take up the ultimate purpose and will of the father and make this ours. Let us avoid Christianity deteriorating into a competitive scramble by small-minded people trying to get more and more people to rally to a cause as opposed to working in harmony to the advance of the kingdom, disciplining the people, pursuing being united with God and keeping peace in the community of God, the church in the bonds of peace.