Preparing to Hear God’s Voice
Faith Basics, part 1
Wildwind Community Church
David K. Flowers
August 29, 2007
1 Sam. 3:1-10
My favorite back to basics story is about the Green Bay Packers, perhaps you’ve heard it. Green Bay had been a losing team for nearly ten years. Morale was sagging. Vince Lombardi comes on as the new coach all excited and he starts leading a practice, pumping up the players, training them, motivating them. But pretty soon he got so frustrated with what was going on that he called a break in the practice and asked everyone to gather around. He said, “Let’s start at the beginning, and picked up the pigskin. This is a football, he said. You are the players, and I am the coach. These are the yard markers.” And he went on to explain the basics of football. Today we begin a new series that I have entitled Faith Basics. Let me give you the titles of these messages, because I want to give you an idea of how basic we’re going to be for the next few weeks.
Today’s message is called Preparing to Hear God’s Voice. Next week is, Recognizing God’s Voice. We’ll follow that up with, When God Makes You Uncomfortable, Substitutes for Relationship with God, Excuses for Rejecting God, Finding God’s Heart, and we’ll finish the series with a message entitled How to Respond to God. My desire in all of these messages is to draw you again and again to the most basic things in the Christian life. Christians here today, you need this. You can get so distracted by all this weighty and deep spiritual stuff that you can forget what it really means in the first place. Non-Christians here today, I’m excited for you. I can’t think of a better time for you to be in church than today and in the next six weeks. You are going to hear some foundational stuff about Christianity. If you are considering becoming a Christian, this series will help you decide, and will even give you an opportunity to make that commitment. I’m going to tell you right now, that’s where we’re going. Every week we will edge closer to a time when I will call you to respond to what I am saying by committing your life to Christ. By the time we get there, you will understand this stuff better than you ever have before. One caution for you. If you sense a desire to commit your life to Christ before we get to that time in our series, do it right away. The Bible says, “Now is the accepted time. Now is the time of salvation.” It also says in Psalms, “today if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart.” See the most important thing in all this is not that you follow my schedule, but that you show up for this series aware that God is doing his own thing in your life which may or may not correspond with my preaching calendar. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart, because now is the accepted time of salvation. Can we pray together?
God, you are in charge this morning. We are here to learn from you and we offer ourselves to you this morning. Would you move in each of our hearts exactly how you need to, and may we be flexible and ready to respond to you today. Amen.
Let’s dig in. Our text this morning comes from the Old Testament book of 1st Samuel, chapter 3. It starts with the prophet Samuel as a young boy, serving in the temple under the priest Eli.
1 Samuel 3:1-10 (NIV)
1 The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions.
2 One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place.
3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was.
4 Then the LORD called Samuel. Samuel answered, "Here I am."
5 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.
6 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."
7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD: The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.
8 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.
9 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.
10 The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, "Samuel! Samuel!" Then Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant is listening."
Look closely at verse 7 here. It says, “Samuel did not yet know the Lord.” Some of you are in that position right now. This whole thing is brand new to you. Like Samuel, you’re just doing your thing and you wouldn’t know the voice of God if he actually spoke out loud to you in the middle of the night. Like Samuel, you’d have no clue who was talking. Our sermon next Sunday will be focused on what God’s voice actually sounds like – on ways you can tell whether God is speaking to you or not. But for today we’re focused on how to create conditions where God can speak to us, on preparing ourselves to hear God’s voice.
If we do not create the right conditions, we will never hear God when he speaks. Remember when you interviewed for a job and were expecting a phone call to tell you whether or not you were hired? What’d you do on that day you were expecting the call? Did you take an especially long shower that day? Did you spend a lot of time out of the house without your answering machine on? Did you go on vacation? Did you make sure your kids were on the phone all day? Of course not! You created conditions where you’d be most likely to hear from your potential employer, didn’t you? You probably took a really quick shower because you know phone calls always seem to come when we’re in the shower. If you had to leave that day, you probably double-checked the answering machine to make sure it was ready to take messages – you may even have redone your outgoing message. You certainly didn’t head off on vacation, I’ll bet, and I’ll bet you kept your kids off the phone as much as possible. You did everything in your power to create conditions where you’d be able to hear from that potential employer.
Our text is about God speaking to someone, and I think it’s safe to say at some point in your life, God will speak to you. God will call you by name. When he does, will you be in the shower, or on the pot? Will you be attending so much to your own life that God will go unnoticed? Today I want to share with you four things you must do to create conditions where you will be able to hear God when he speaks.
First is you must quiet down. We see that God spoke to Samuel when he was lying in bed at night. God will not usually shout above the din of your busy life. Now quieting down is not as easy as it seems. A lot of people are keeping themselves so busy they can’t even hear from their own kids, their own spouses, or maybe even themselves, much less God. A lot of people if they would slow down for a second, would hear their kids saying, “Stop this – you don’t have to bring home all this money. I just want to see you for a while.” A lot would hear their spouse saying, “I miss you. I love you. I want to know you better than I do. What happened to our friendship?” Scariest of all, a lot of people if they slowed down would hear themselves – their own spirits, saying things to them like, “Who are you? I don’t even know you anymore. Where did your passion go? What are you living for?”
So we start by acknowledging that with the busyness of our lives, we’re shutting out a lot more than God. We use busyness to keep from having to think about anything that might be uncomfortable to think about. And yeah, God is in there somewhere too. Maybe God is even speaking to us through some of these other voices – “I miss you. I love you. I want to know you better than I do. What are you living for?” As long as we keep rushing around, we won’t hear any of the voices we most need to hear, including God’s. So what are some things we can do to quiet down?
We can keep coming to church. Church is a place where we can take an hour or two a week to quiet our minds and hearts and souls, to tune in to God’s wavelength, and open ourselves up to God in a unique way, like you are doing right now. I am speaking to you, but far more important is the fact that God has already begun to speak to some of you. God is already saying, “That person who works too much and ignores his kids – that’s you,” or “That thing Dave said about committing your life to Christ – you need to think about that.” Church is one place where you can quiet down.
Another idea is to turn off the TV. TV was created to be a distraction, and it serves exactly that purpose. You already know that when you have the TV on, you cannot attend to your spouse, to your kids, or to your own emotional and mental needs. So also you cannot attend to God with the TV on. Next time you clean house, or fold laundry, or piddle around with fixing something at home, turn off the TV – let there be quietness in your home and in your life – create that space for God to speak. I’ll probably do a whole sermon sometime on the effect I think TV has on our spiritual life – I think it’s the number one reason for Biblical illiteracy and lack of prayer.
While the TV is off, another thing you can do is read. Read the Bible. Read a book on being a better parent or better spouse. Read something not related to work, that is focused on who you are in some critical role in your life. This rules out, say, Stephen King or James Patterson or John Grisham. Nothing wrong with fiction, but spend time reading books that focus on who you are as a human being. That will quiet you down.
And of course you can pray. Don’t worry about not knowing how. Praying is just talking. Talk to God. Tell him what’s on your mind and in your heart. Share your frustrations with him. Share your doubts!
The last thing I’ll suggest for how to quiet down this morning is to quit something you’re currently doing, or say no to something you’re thinking of doing if you’re really stretched for time. Just get a few things off your plate.
Those are just some ideas about things you can do to quiet down. If you will really be honest with yourself, you know what is cluttering your life and what needs to go. Let’s move on to point 2.
You need to not only quiet down, but when you are quieted down, you need to listen up! Eli told Samuel to say, “Speak Lord, your servant is listening!” Notice that in this passage, God calls Samuel’s name several times and Samuel thinks it’s Eli. It is only after Samuel identifies that it is God speaking that God goes on to deliver his message to Samuel. I believe God will often try over and over and over to get our attention but until we are listening and oriented to God, God will not – or perhaps cannot – give us the message. A lot of times we throw up prayers to God like wishes on a star, but we are not quieted down and we are not listening up for the answer. We must quiet our lives and we must listen up.
Quietness helps us listen, but won’t force us to listen. Sometimes you can force yourself into complete silence and then be shocked by the amount of activity going on inside your own brain. Constant distractions, nagging doubts about what you are doing, guilt over things you should be getting done, even feelings of failure, that you can’t hear God as well as you think you should be able to. To really listen requires intense concentration. Parents, have you ever been in a car with your kids while one of them is telling you a story, and then realized at the end of the story there’s this dead silence while they wait for you to respond, but you have no idea what to say because you weren’t really listening? You were paying attention to things inside your own head. Ever had that happen with a friend or an instructor for a class, or a preacher? When Samuel was distracted with thoughts of “Who’s that? Who’s that?” God just kept calling his name. Not until Samuel was able to focus and listen did God tell him what he had to tell him. The ancient art of Christian meditation is just the discipline of trying not only to hear but to listen. When you hear a preacher quote the scripture that says, “Christ died for the ungodly,” are you listening? Do you get the message? Christ died for the ungodly. I am ungodly – Christ died for me. Listening is the art of attending to what we hear – of paying attention.
One of the greatest preachers who ever lived was named Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Spurgeon lived in the 18th century. I was reading one of his sermons the other day and I was struck by something he once said. He said, “May the truth be the death of your illusions.” May the truth be the death of your illusions. Truth has a way of putting our illusions to death, and listening is often what brings us the truth.
Romans 10:17 (MSG)
17 …Before you trust, you have to listen. But unless Christ’s Word is preached, there’s nothing to listen to.
When my financial life was a wreck and I began using Mvelopes – a program that helped me get a clear picture of my finances – Mvelopes told me the truth, and the truth was the death of my illusions. It showed me how bad things were. Some of you have illusions that you have a solid marriage, and you refuse to listen to your partner say the two of you need counseling because that truth is the death of your illusions. Some people drink a lot and have an illusion that they are in control, and finally they end up in jail or hurting somebody and that tells them the truth about who they are and puts their illusions to death. It hurts when our illusions die, but they must go in order for the clear light of truth to shine in our lives and show us the path we are on. Why do people oftentimes not listen for God to speak in their lives? Because they want to hang on to their illusions. They want to keep thinking of themselves as the go-to person in their own lives. They want to pretend they have it all together and don’t need God. They tell themselves they are good people and don’t need to trust in God. Those are all illusions. Before you trust you have to listen, but if you don’t want to trust, you will not listen! We must quiet down, and then we must listen up. And in order to listen up, we must be prepared for God’s truth to put our illusions to death.
Third is we must look around. I believe this is essential. Samuel didn’t know who was speaking – he assumed it was Eli. It was not Eli, but do you know what happened? Samuel unwittingly went to a person who could direct him to God. I believe that when we are hoping and preparing to hear from God, we need to befriend people who seem to hear God, watch how they live, and then imitate them. If you want to create conditions where you will be able to hear God, then make friends with people who seem to hear from him, watch how they live, and then imitate them. Don’t think there’s no connection between the way a godly person lives and how they seem to hear from God.
Eli knew who was calling Samuel. Every one of us needs to have an Eli in our lives – a relationship with at least one person who knows when God is speaking and can help us identify it. And we need that person in our lives before we think God might be speaking. That’s what small groups are for. Small groups are partially a place where you can say, “Here’s what I think I’m hearing God say to me right now. What do you think?” This is invaluable. We are foolish if we think we can do this alone. We can’t, and we shouldn’t try.
Fourth and finally is that we must not only quiet down, listen up, and look around, but we must be prepared to move over. You’ve all heard Carrie’s Underwood’s song. “Jesus take the wheel, take it from my hands, ‘cuz I can’t do this on my own. I’m letting go, so give me one more chance – save me from this road I’m on – Jesus take the wheel. We must be prepared to move over and let Jesus take the wheel of our lives. My friends, God will not speak to you just to satisfy your curiosity about whether he’ll speak or not! You must quiet down so that you can listen up. You must look around at others who hear God and learn from their lives. But you also must have every intention of doing what God says when he speaks to you.
James 1:22-25 (MSG)
22 Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear!
23 Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror,
24 walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.
25 But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the free life!—even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action.
What is it that separates listeners from those who fool themselves into thinking they are listeners? Real listening is accompanied by doing – by acting on what is heard. Again and again in the Gospels we see people going up to Jesus and saying, “Show us a sign that you are really from God,” and Jesus refused. Why? Because Jesus knew they had no intention of acting on anything they might learn. They wanted to see a grand spectacle because it would be a good show. It’s the religious equivalent of the monkey in the cage who can press a certain lever and a banana drops out of the ceiling. We’ll stand there forever waiting to see the monkey press the lever and get the banana – but it’s just a show. We don’t have any personal interest in the monkey. We’re just curious if he’ll do it. We’re going to leave as soon as he gets the banana. His only value to us is to entertain us. Jesus refused to be used in that way, and God is still refusing to be used that way today.
“God if you’re real, get me out of this mess.” “God, if you really care about me, make this diagnosis go away.” “God, if I should break up with my girlfriend/boyfriend, make it rain today.” God will not speak or act in our lives merely because we ask him to. God will speak or act when we have the genuine intention to take action based on what God says or does. Go back to our monkey. We have no relationship with that monkey – his life and what he does or doesn’t do doesn’t affect us at all. And we have no effect on him either. When two people are in relationship with each other, their lives actually affect one another. If I’m friends with Rick and Rick tells me about a song or movie that really affected him, chances are pretty good that I’m going to automatically want to hear that song or watch that movie. What if Rick tells me again and again about songs that affect him and I never ask who performed them or tell him that I made an effort to listen to any of them? Rick would have every reason to believe there is really no relationship, no friendship there at all. God seeks a relationship with us above all else and in a relationship, the things God says and does in our lives mean something for the relationship between us and God, they are not simply words of advice to help us live better and be more comfortable, or miracles God works to entertain us or make us happy.
Most people just want to use God for their own purposes. But God will not have that.
Galatians 6:7-8 (MSG)
7 Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—
8 harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.
My friends, the most basic thing that happens in the Christian life is that we learn to hear God’s voice. But in order to even do that, we must cultivate certain conditions in our lives. We must quiet down the noise in our lives. We must listen up to hear God’s voice. We must look around and identify others who seem to hear God’s voice and learn from them. Finally we must move over – be ready to let God take the wheel – be ready to act on what we hear from God when he speaks.
As I said, next week we’ll look at ways you can recognize God’s voice when he speaks. How do we know if what we think we’re sensing is God or not? There are some good guidelines I want to give you. Will you pray with me?
God may we quiet down, listen up, look around, and move over this week, and may we see what you will do when we step out of the way and allow you to take the wheel. May we be listeners, and may your truth be the death of our illusions about ourselves, and may that truth bring us freedom. Amen.
