Samuel Heard God's Voice

1 Samuel 3

"Then Samuel said, 'Speak, for your servant is listening.'"  1 Samuel 3:10b

We live in a very busy, noisy world.  Usually the radio or t.v. is on, the computer or Ipad is in action, and the cell phone is ringing.  The dishwasher, washer, dryer, or vacuum may be running.  Someone may be mowing a yard or blowing leaves.  There is noise and competition for our attention on all sides.  If God's still, small voice were speaking to you, do you think you would be able to hear it?

God wanted to send a message to Israel, but nobody was listening for His voice.  Because of the lack of men who were waiting  for the Lord to speak, God picked the lad Samuel, who was probably around twelve years old at the time, to be His messenger.

Notice when God spoke to Samuel.  It was at night when everything was still and quiet.  God called Samuel four times.  The first three times Samuel went to Eli, thinking he had called. Then Eli realized that God was calling, and he instructed Samuel to tell God to speak, that he was listening.

God told Samuel that He was going to punish Eli's wicked sons for their sins.  Samuel was reluctant to give Eli God's message, but, when Eli asked about it the next morning, he insisted that Samuel tell him everything God had said.  Eli was teaching Samuel what to do with God's message.  A prophet is to give the whole word of God, no matter how hard it is to tell it.  Kenneth Chafin said, "This may have been Eli's greatest gift, teaching Samuel to be open and honest about God's word; not to try to please people with the message; and to resist the temptation to edit or moderate the word."

Samuel passed the test of speaking the whole truth.  1 Samuel 3:18a says,  "So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him."  Eli took the news well because he realized that his sons deserved the punishment that was coming.

Marilyn Morgan Helleberg said,  "Just as God spoke to Samuel, could it be that He speaks to us too, but that His voice is drowned out by the t.v., by small talk, by all the distractions of daily life, and, most of all, by our own incessant thoughts?"

The psalmist tells us in Psalm 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God."   J. B. Phillips wrote,  "If the Christian is to maintain the spiritual life within him, he must, by desperate resolution, elbow a space in his daily activities when he can obey the command to 'Be still and know that I am God.'"  If we want to hear God, we must take the time to listen.

Father, it is so important that we hear Your voice, Your directions, and Your encouragement.  I pray that each of us reading this devotional will take time to draw apart, be still, and listen for You to speak everyday.  Amen.