Listen Carefully!

J. Edgar Hoover ran the FBI with an iron fist, no question about it. As a result, almost all of his subordinates were on the lookout for ways to impress their powerful boss. A young FBI man was put in charge of the FBI's supply department. In an effort to cut some costs and impress his boss, he reduced the size of the office memo paper.

One of the new memo sheets soon ended up on Hoover's desk. Hoover took one look at it, determined he didn't like the size of the margins on the paper, and quickly scribbled on the memo, "Watch the borders!" The memo was passed on through the office.

For the next six weeks, it was extremely difficult to enter the United States by road from either Mexico or Canada. The FBI was watching the borders. Why was the FBI watching the borders? They thought they had received a warning from their chief, but they hadn't. They had transformed an innocuous comment into a solemn warning. 

Many times a message can become confused or misinterpreted. However in our verses today we see that Samuel didn’t confuse the message God gave him. During Samuel’s day, the people didn’t have the entire Old Testament to guide them and show them God’s desires for their lives. They had prophets, holy men of God, who received counsel and guidance from the Lord and then relayed it to the people.

Source: Daily in the Word, April 20, 2008