When God Calls Your Name… Twice: Samuel
Scott Bayles, pastor
Blooming Grove Christian Church: 8/14/2016
Hearing your name called can evoke different responses depending on the circumstances. For instance, there’s a sense of fear and anxiety when you’re a student and you hear your name called over the intercom followed by “please report to the principal’s office.” On the other hand, there is a sense of pride and accomplishment when you’re wearing your cap and gown and you hear your name called before rising to receive your diploma.
For the last few of weeks, we’ve been talking about how you might respond if God called your name—not just once, but twice. As I mentioned before, God calls plenty of people in the Bible often by name, but I’ve only found seven times where God calls out someone’s name twice in a row—Abraham, Abraham! Jacob, Jacob! Moses, Moses!
Each time that God calls someone by name twice, he follows it with something profound and powerful. He called Abraham to remind him that God must be first in his heart and life. He called Jacob in order to calm his fears and assure him that God is always with him. He called Moses to tell him that he sees the suffering in our world, and he wants us to do something about it.
The fourth person God calls by name twice is Samuel.
You may remember that Samuel's mother was Hannah, who prayed and asked God for a son—promising that if God did indeed give her a son that she would give him back to God, committing him to a lifetime of service in the Temple. God, of course, answered Hannah's pleas and blessed her with the birth of Samuel.
Hannah kept the vow she had made to the Lord. When Samuel was about 7 years old, she brought him to live in the Temple and be raised as a Levite, dedicated to serving God. Samuel was trained to be a priest by a man named Eli.
As the story goes, one night after Samuel had gone to bed, he thought he heard Eli calling for him. He got out of bed, ran to where Eli was lying down and said, “Here I am. Did you call me?” Eli looked at young Samuel, and said, “I didn’t call you. Go back to bed.” Samuel, of course, complied. But moments later, he heard his name again. “Samuel!” the voice called. Samuel rose from his bed, hurried to Eli’s side and said, “Here I am; you called me.” Again Eli told the boy he was wrong. Again Samuel returned to his bed. When it happened a third time, the old man finally realized what was going on. So Eli instructed Samuel, “Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening’” (1 Samuel 3:9 NLT). And so, Samuel returned to bed a third time.
Then the Bible says, “The Lord came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:10 NLT).
What followed was a prophetic promise that would radically impact Eli and his family. But the content of that message is not nearly as important as the simple fact that God spoke to Samuel and Samuel listened. You see this chapter starts off by reminding the reader: “This was at a time when the revelation of God was rarely heard or seen” (1 Samuel 3:1 MSG). Another translation says, “In those days the Lord did not speak directly to people very often” (NCV).
In a time when people rarely hear from God, a boy asleep in the tabernacle hears a voice calling him in the middle of the night.
“Samuel! Samuel!”
And Samuel’s life would never be the same. After this night, Samuel becomes the mouthpiece of God to a nation—a prophet, a judge, and a priest. This would be the first of countless conversations between Samuel and God. It’s all because he took Eli’s advice and actively listened to God.
I wonder how many times God has spoken to us and we were not listening. I wonder how many times He had something specific we needed to hear, but we were too preoccupied to pay attention.
I believe that one of most valuable lessons we can ever learn is how to listen to God. In the midst of our complex and hectic lives, nothing is more urgent, more necessary, or more rewarding than listening to what God has to say. And I believe that God speaks just as powerfully today as he did to Samuel. His voice waits to be heard, and having heard it, we are launched into the greatest, most exciting adventure we could ever imagine. God may not speak to you through a burning burn like he with Moses or through a vision like he did Jacob—but God still speaks!
Like Samuel, we seem to live in an age when God doesn’t speak directly to people very often. But I don’t think the problem is that God doesn’t speak to us. I think the problem is—we’re not very good at listening.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a wife say, “My husband doesn’t listen to me,” or a parent say, “my kids don’t listen to me,” or a boss say, “my employees don’t listen to me,” or a teenager say, “my parents don’t listen to me.” As a populace, some of us are great talkers but very few of us are great listeners.
Honestly, guys seem to struggle with this more than women. I know my wife complains all the time about it. Men tend to be really great single-taskers. We can focus on one thing really well and do that one thing really well. We kind of block out whatever else is going on. But we’re not so good at multitasking. If I’m focused on the computer or on the road and someone starts talking to me, I know there is sound coming from somewhere, but I don’t really hear any of what’s being said.
Maybe you can relate. In fact, I heard a story about this one guy who was convinced that his wife was going deaf but she refused to see a doctor about it. So one night he decides to put her to the test. She’s standing at the sink doing dishes and he stands about 15 feet behind her and asks, “Honey what’s for dinner?” No response. So he moves a little closer and asks again, “Honey what’s for dinner?” Still nothing. So he moves a little closer and asks a third time. Still no response. So then he creeps right up behind her, just inches away, and asks again, “Honey, what’s for dinner?” Suddenly, she whirls around with a knife in one hand and says, “I told you told you three times already, we’re having chicken! Now quit asking!”
On a spiritual level, I think we can be just as hard of hearing as that guy sometimes. In fact, the Bible says, “For God speaks again and again, though people do not recognize it” (Job 33:14 NLT). Isn’t that something? God speaks again and again—all the time. But we just don’t recognize it. We’re so hard of hearing that we don’t notice God speaking to us.
In fact, that reminds me a scene from the movie Bruce Almighty that I think a lot us can relate to.
Video Clip: Bruce Almighty – Send Me a Sign
Isn’t that just like us. There Bruce is begging, pleading for God to talk to him, to tell him what to do. But when God answers him, he misses it!
I think part of the reason we don’t recognize it when God speaks is that He’s often much more subtle than we want. We want a neon sign. We want the earth to move. We want thunder and lightning. We want a booming voice from heaven.
That’s what Elijah wanted.
In 1 Kings 19, Elijah needed to hear from God. So God lead Elijah up into the mountains. And as Elijah stood there a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord didn’t speak through the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord didn’t speak through the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord didn’t speak through the fire. But after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. “A still small voice,” the KJV says. It was the still small voice, the gentle whisper through which God spoke.
I think God still speaks in gentle whispers.
Sometimes God may speak to us through a restless spirit. Other times, God uses another person’s words to speak to us—a poignant sermon that just happens to speak to your immediate needs or a spiritually insightful book that does the same. Sometimes God gives us unusual blessings to get our attention. Other times he may use disappointments, difficulties, and dilemmas for the very same reason. Sometimes God speaks to us through recurring themes—a subject that keeps coming up in a variety of ways. In each of these and other similar circumstance, we ought to turn to God and ask, “God, are you speaking to me? I’m listening.”
God may even impress a specific message into our hearts through his Spirit; what Bill Hybels calls “the quiet whispers of the transcendent God.”
In his book, The Power of a Whisper, Bill Hybels tells a personal story of when God spoke to him. Running late for a meeting at church, he jumped into his car and threw it into reverse. As he backed down his driveway, he received a very strong prompting from God. “Stop. Right now!” God whispered. It wasn’t an audible voice. More of a urgent but hushed thought. Bill slammed his foot on the brake and then sat there, thinking, “Did I forget something in the house? Was my wife supposed to come with me?” For a moment, he thought it was just his mind playing tricks on him and dismissed it, then he glanced in the rearview mirror and lifted his foot off the brake as he caught sight of his neighbor’s three-year-old son riding his tricycle right behind the car. He was so close that all Bill could see was the top of his little blond head, and had he not stayed planted on those brakes, that little boy would have been seriously injured or killed.
How easy would it have been to ignore that gentle whisper? How tragic would it have been if he did? Bill learned long ago, however, to listen to those gentle promptings of the Holy Spirit. As he prepared to write this book, The Power of a Whisper, he sent an e-mail out to all the members of Willow Creek Community Church (where he preached) asking if any of them ever had similar experiences.
The next day his inbox was bulging with more than five hundred heartfelt replies. Some of the respondents described the recent promptings they had received, and others ventured back in time, explaining that some of the most important, meaningful input they’ve been given in life happened years or even decades ago. The topics ran the gamut—vocational, relational, spiritual, physical, medical, financial, etc. The whispers varied as well—sometimes God offered words of gentle affirmation, and other times he issued stiff challenges.
The point is: it may be subtle—a gentle whisper, a still small voice—but God still speaks to those who are willing to listen. We need to have the heart of David who wrote, “I listen carefully to what God the Lord is saying” (Psalm 85:8 NLT).
Of course, the Lord’s primary way of speaking to us today is through His Word. We already have the complete revelation of God. He doesn’t need to add anything else to this Book. The Bible is the unfolding truth of God by God about God. It is the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, guiding the minds of men who penned the pages that make up the Bible. It’s God’s message to every person, every generation.
The most guaranteed way we can know we hear from God is through His Word. When we face difficulties and heartaches, rather than seek this counsel or that counsel, we should first go to the Scriptures.
God’s Word was written to the people addressed in Scripture. Isaiah wrote to Judah, Paul wrote to the Corinthians, but the Scriptures were also written for us. The Bible is God’s instruction book for His people. The Lord spoke to Joshua and said: “Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do” (Joshua 1:8 NLT).
The book of the Law was Joshua’s guide, his instruction book in godly living. So the Bible is for us today. Whenever we have a problem or a question for God, we can open up our Bibles and invite God to speak to us. God will often lead us to a story in Scripture, a passage, or even a single verse that will relate to our situation. If we will listen—actively listen—God will speak to us.
Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27 NLT). Are you listening? Are you following?
We will never know what God is trying to tell us if we do not listen. So many people will never hear God’s voice, simply because they weren’t listening. Listening to God is not always easy, but it is always rewarding. Listening means taking time to seek His will and focusing on what He has to say. We will never find peace of heart until we take the time to attune our attention on Him.
Suppose Samuel had not listened to God when he heard Him call his name. Suppose he had just rolled over and gone back to sleep. He could have just as easily chosen to ignore the calling of God, but he didn't.
He responded to God, and it taught him an invaluable lesson which lasted a lifetime. It was a life-changing experience that brought him into a closer communion with the Lord. The question is—are you listening? And if you do hear God’s voice… do you have the guts to respond?
Conclusion
Eli’s advice and Samuel’s example remind of the importance of listening to God. God may be calling your name today, but for whatever reason, you have not responded. For some reason, you have chosen to tune Him out. If you do that, you will be making the biggest mistake of your life.
Next week, we’ll explore another time when God called someone’s name twice.
Invitation
In the meantime…The first step in listening to God is allowing Him to be the Lord and Savior of your life. You can do this simply by praying, asking Him to forgive you of your sins and trusting what He did for you on Calvary. If God is calling your name today, please respond by coming forward as we stand and sing together.
