1 Samuel 3:1-20
Hearing More Clearly from God
Prophets with a Purpose – week 1
Today we’re starting a five-week series I’m calling, “Prophets with a Purpose.” A prophet or prophetess is someone who speaks for God. In a way, I’m a prophet as I deliver this message. When you encourage or correct someone lovingly with God’s word, you’re a prophet. Sometimes we think of prophets foretelling the future, and some do. But prophets don’t just foretell; they also “forth tell.” They speak God’s message for the present as well as for the future. In each of the five weeks, we’ll briefly spotlight one prophet and what it means for us today.
I’ve always loved today’s story. A little boy hears God’s voice and doesn’t know it. (Today we would call it auditory hallucinations!) An elderly priest gets irritated. I mean, who likes to have their sleep interrupted? But Eli finally figures out what’s going on, and helps the boy connect in a personal way with God. The boy learns to submit to God as he has to Eli. And then the boy’s first message from God condemns the elderly priest’s own family! When Samuel is faithful to deliver that tough message, he sets out on a path to become God’s mouthpiece to a nation: the last of Israel’s great judges, the first of the great prophets, and the maker of kings. Welcome to the life of Samuel!
(JOKE) Samuel shows us, sometimes it’s hard to heard God speak. I heard about a person up north who decided she wanted to try ice fishing. So she went out and cut a hole in the ice. Just then she heard a loud voice say, “There are no fish under the ice.” Amazed at hearing a voice speaking to her, she wondered if it was God. She finally convinced herself she probably imagined hearing the voice so she tried drilling a hole in anther spot. Again, she heard the voice, “There are no fish under the ice.” So she asked, “Is that you, God?” To which she heard the reply, “No, this is the ice rink manager!”
Hearing from God can be problematic! In your life, lots of voices clamor for your attention. There’s your friends who want to help, providers who want to fix you, TV ads that promise to fulfill your every need and desire, and that well-meaning grandson who wants to run your life! Amidst all the clamor, would it be helpful if you could hear clearly from God? Maybe Samuel’s story can help. Consider these suggestions:
1. Cultivate your environment.
By this I mean, choose carefully where you put yourself each day. Samuel didn’t have to worry about this: his mother actually chose his environment for him. If you don’t know the story, go back and read the first chapter of 1 Samuel. Samuel’s mother, Hannah, was unable to conceive. She wanted a child so badly that she promised God if he would give her one, she would give him back, in full-time service to the church. And that’s what happened. God miraculously blessed her with Samuel. After Hannah weaned him, she brought him to the church and left him there, only to visit annually with a hug and new clothes.
Think about the environment in which Samuel grew up: He hung out at the Temple all day and night. He met different priests. He heard various prayers. He watched as they made sacrifices. He probably got into discussions with people who loved God and served God. Samuel was in an environment ripe for nurturing a relationship with God.
Now don’t oversimplify this: going to church doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to hear from God. It’s all about relationship! The elderly priest Eli had a couple of good-for-nothing sons who, like Samuel, also worked in the church. And God’s first message to Samuel was about their downfall, because they cared more about themselves than the Lord.
We all know someone who has faked the Christian life. Yet, if you really want to hear from God, don’t wait until it’s an emergency! Cultivate your environment now. Come to church services and worship God with other believers. Read your Bible daily, listening for what God wants to say through his word. Get alone with God regularly in prayer and learn to be aware of his presence throughout the day. Discuss with others how scripture speaks to your life. All these things help you to tune into God’s channel with less interference.
Cultivate your environment carefully, and then,
2. Do the last thing God told you.
If you don’t know what God is saying now, at least do what you already know God said. Samuel obeyed his mother and Eli, his mentor. Yet, Eli provides a negative example of this point: he is a terrible father! He knows the Bible says to lovingly discipline your children; yet, he’s allowed his sons to grow up from spoiled brats into adult monsters. And now they’re supposed to take over for him as priests? God says, “No way!” Eli had not done what he knew God expected of him as a father, so why should he expect God to talk to him about anything else?
When we’re not sure how to proceed, what God would want us to do next, we might ask ourselves, “Am I doing everything I already know God wants me to do?” Because why would the Lord give you more if you haven’t obeyed him with what he’s already given? Jesus said, in Luke 16:10, “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones.” Begin with what you know God wants.
Cultivate your environment, do the last thing God told you, and lastly,
3. Listen with a servant’s heart.
Eli tells Samuel, “The next time you hear your name being called, respond with, ‘Speak, Lord for your servant is listening.’” Eli chooses a very specific phrase here. It’s something a servant or slave would say to his or her master. With this response, Samuel is saying, “My will is neutral here, Lord. It doesn’t matter what I want or don’t want. All that matters is what you want. Thy will be done.”
That’s the right attitude to open yourself up to hearing God speak. It’s what the virgin Mary said to the angel when told she would birth the Messiah. She simply replied, “May it be to me as you have said.” In other words, “God’s will be done.” Barbara Taylor, in her book, “When God is Silent,” writes that prayer should be less “Lord, hear our prayers,” and more “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.”
When Lisa was preparing for her audition with the Singing Sergeants, she shared with me both pros and cons of joining the group. Then she said she was at peace because she was leaving it all in God’s hands. I told her she was approaching the matter wisely. If you can make your will neutral in a matter, and trust God with whatever the outcome, you are listening with a servant’s heart.
Samuel grew up to be the spiritual leader of the nation of Israel. Verse 19 says, “The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground.” I love that phrase! In other words, everything Samuel prophesied came true. Deuteronomy 18:21-22 says this is the ultimate test of any prophet: if what they say actually happens, they’re a true prophet. If it doesn’t, they’re a fraud.
Samuel got it right. He listened and he listened well. He cultivated the right environment to grow closer to God. He was obedient to God in doing what he knew God wanted. And he listened with a servant’s heart, only wanting to please his Master, the one true God.
Samuel was a great prophet, as were others we’ll look at in this series. Yet, there is one prophet who caps them all. His name is Jesus. Think of how the Son of God fulfilled all three of today’s points while he walked the earth: First, he cultivated an environment where he spent time with God regularly. When he was just 12, his parents couldn’t find him, until at long last they discovered him in the Temple, in his Father’s house, discussing the word and answering questions of the religious leaders. Later, in his public ministry, he spent every waking hour teaching his disciples and the crowds and performing miracles. Yet often, in the wee hours of the morning, while it was still dark, he would slip away for prayer. Jesus cultivated his environment to be with God.
And Jesus did the last thing God told him. In fact, he told his disciples, in John 5:19, “The Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” Jesus lived a life of obedience from beginning to end. And even now, as our intercessor, he serves the Heavenly Father at his right hand.
Lastly, Jesus listened with a servant’s heart. In his famous prayer at Gethsemane, moments before his arrest, he said, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42).
Jesus heard clearly from God. What about you? Are you willing to do your part to put yourself where God can speak clearly to your heart? Let’s pray:
Lord, your word says you’re a God of order, not confusion. Yet, so often we’re confused. We don’t know how to resolve a situation. We don’t know how to grow closer to our family or friends. We don’t know how to stay healthier. We don’t know how to drop that bad habit ... or start that good habit. We need direction, God, and we need it from you. Help us to set ourselves up to where we’re learning more about you and spending time in prayer with you every day. Help us to obey what you’ve already told us to do. And help us to eagerly listen for your direction, trusting your will above our own. Help us to be more like Samuel, more like Jesus. In Christ’s name we pray, amen.
