Growing up, I loved playing outside with my friends. I could hear my Mom calling me to come in for lunch or supper, but I was often too busy to listen. Honestly, it was more like I didn’t want to respond and come inside.
How often are we too busy or too distracted to hear when God is calling us to do His work. Samuel in the Bible was just like us. Check out this exchange in the passage below and see how you would feel if you were Samuel.
“The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions. .. Then the Lord called Samuel. Samuel answered, ‘Here I am.’ And he ran to Eli and said, ‘Here I am; you called me.’ But Eli said, ‘I did not call; go back and lie down.’ So he went and lay down. 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.’ Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. The Lord called Samuel a third time, and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, ‘Here I am; you called me.’
“Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, ‘Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening.’ So Samuel went and lay down in his place.”
“The Lord came and stood there, calling as at other times, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ Then Samuel said, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening.’ And the Lord said to Samuel: ‘See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle.” –1 Samuel 3:1, 4-11 NIV84
Did you notice it? The Lord came and stood there, calling as at other times…That phrase hit me over the head.
God talks with us all the time, yet we are so distracted, we do not listen. Or we may think it’s someone/something else, not God. It took Eli to prepare Samuel to really listen the next time the Lord “came and stood there” and called him. How often do we blow off the Eli’s in our lives and dismiss their insight?
Who is an Eli in your life, who can help you focus on God, preparing you to listen to Him calling you? The Lord is talking to you, calling your name, calling as at other times. Listen to God, and listen to your “Eli”, so you can listen to Him.
It is then and ONLY then that God can work in our lives in ways that will “make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle.”
Thank God for the intentional times to slow us down and help us hear the Lord speaking. Now, instead of being too busy to hear like I was as a little girl, I pray to listen more intentionally. “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
Reflect:
–Do you find that your world is noisy, distracted, hard to hear God? Please comment.
–Who is an Eli in your life? Please comment.
Renew:
–“And the Lord said to Samuel: ‘See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle.’ …The Lord was will Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord.” –1 Samuel 3: 11, 19-20 NIV 84
–“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” –Psalm 46:10 NIV84
Recharge:
–What will you do this week to quiet yourself, focus, and listen? Shhh… can you hear Him calling as at other times?
Danya Jordan