As I was reading this past week I was challenged by the narrative found in 1 Samuel 3 about Samuel’s experience of learning to hear and recognize God’s voice. I feel like it applies to just about every single person on planet earth who wants to know and follow God more. We often have the experience of wondering why we don’t hear from Him more clearly, and often get frustrated. Some of this is just the reality of being human and living in a broken world where we do not see God face-to-face. But some of this lack of connection is our own doing. In meditating on this section of Scripture I was challenged by these 3 questions:
1. Am I Available? What struck me about Samuel was he was sleeping on the floor of the tabernacle. Every night and day he remained near the presence of God. This was his priority and focus. And it is in this context of remaining near to God that Samuel began to hear his voice.
The question for me (and maybe you) is “do I create enough space/margin in my life to draw near to God?”. I find myself so busy between work, the kids, the house, and then my own pursuits of recreation (working out, watching sports, etc..) that I often don’t make room to listen to the Lord. The real question is one of priorities. Even in the midst of my busy life, I could make some changes (getting up earlier, going to bed earlier, turning off my sports radio, less TV, etc…). This isn’t meant to guilt anyone or to say “you just have to suck it up and do more”. It’s merely meant to say, “if we want to hear God’s voice, we might have to figure out how to position our lives closer to the tabernacle”.
2. Am I Diligent? Samuel did not recognize God’s voice at first. It took 3 separate attempts of asking Eli before Samuel (and Eli) figured it out. I am struck by Samuel’s “stick-to-it-ness” (nice made-up word!). Samuel stayed with it. He didn’t get frustrated. He kept listening and kept asking questions. Samuel was learning to tune into the frequency/channel God was speaking on.
Often times if I have not heard from the Lord in awhile I get frustrated and just want to stop trying. I almost become like my 2 year old when she just gives up if some task is too hard. But Samuel shows me there is another way that is worth the effort. It requires hard work, but in the end the fruit of a life tuned into God’s voice is incredible (study the rest of Samuel’s life – pretty amazing ministry & legacy!).
3. Am I Willing? The text says Samuel told Eli “everything, hiding nothing from him” (and the news wasn’t good!). Once I hear God’s voice I must make a choice about whether or not I’m willing to obey what He has told me. Of course there are times when He is speaking to me about how He feels about me, but most of the time I hear Him asking me to take steps of faith and obedience – to move outside myself. This is the real crux of wanting to hear God’s voice – will we obey it once we hear? It’s cool that Moses got to meet with God “face-to-face” but it’s also terryifying that he had to challenge and call out the most powerful man on the planet (Pharoah) without a back-up plan.
I want to hear God’s voice more. I know you do as well. Let’s begin to challenge ourselves with these 3 questions from the life of Samuel. We just might find ourselves hearing more and being more effective for the King.
Hope you are having a great week!
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Your message is so true and especially timely in my life. I have made a decision recently to step back and do less so that I have more time to spend with the Lord. If he has something for me to do he will drop it in my lap. Time with him is what is important.
I benefited from your message. Thanks
It is so true that spending time with the Lord is very important. How would we know if we don’t spend enough time with him in his word? However, even though Samuel spend so much time in the church he did not know how the voice of God sounded. But once he received a direction from Eli and he recognized the voice of God he was able to follow him fully? May God help us to know His voice, hear His voice and be obedience to his instructions just like Samuel. Jesus said “My sheep hear my voice”. So, we will hear for one purpose to know him. Jesus said “eternal life is this to know God and Jesus Christ.
I once new a paula gayle roy now switched her name to gayle paula roy. And I gotta say u r seriously confused since high school.
I will make sure u see GOD today u r so mixed up fuckin my man it will not pay u to live near me cause all u want it one thing. And yes I enjoy to be serious trouble