Scriptures:
Old Testament – 1 Samuel 3:1-10; Psalm 46:10
New Testament – John 16:12-15
Title: Stillness Leads to New Adventures
Theme: Stillness Leads to New Adventures (Spiritual Formation)
Looking into the life of the young boy Samuel, the older man Samuel and the words of the Psalmist we find some much needed instruction concerning the value of a time of quietness, stillness and peace (not striving).
INTRO
Grace and peace from God the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit who speaks to us and guides us this morning!
Let’s say these words from Psalm 46:10 again –
“Be still and know that I am God”
Quietness.
Silence.
Peace.
Listening.
Those are powerful words.
But do they fit in with our everyday culture?
Or at least do they fit into today’s Western world and perhaps even the ever-changing Eastern World?
Quietness. Silence. Peace. Listening.
And are they necessary?
There are many people that do not crave a world of quietness or silence.
They believe that such a world is too unsettling. It’s too uncomfortable and truth be told some people fear quietness and stillness.
They say, “It’s better to have some noise going on around them.”
“After all, life is to be lived, lived with action and noise, with celebration and activity.”
That is very true. Life is filled with action, with noise and celebration and with activity.
But no one ever said that being quiet, still or not striving is inactive
Stillness is not emptiness.
Stillness can lead to deep, meaningful activity involving the heart, mind and soul.
You see, we all need times of quietness, silence, of not striving and of great peace.
In our readings this morning the idea of being at peace, being still and not striving is not only found but promoted. So, too, is the activity of listening and obeying.
Let’s take a few moments and look at all this a bit more deeply.
I. Stillness led Samuel to a New Calling –
The Bible tells us that Samuel had been a part of Eli’s family since he was weaned as a child by his mother Hannah. His back story can be found in 1 Samuel chapters 1-2 and is quite a good read. The Jewish historian Josephus believed Samuel was around 11-12 years old at the time of this supernatural encounter.
The Bible also tells us that Samuel grew up to be quite a pivotal figure in the life of the Israelite people. Even though he was not from the tribe of Levi, he would be called by the Lord to be a Judge of Israel, a Prophet of the Lord as well as a Priest in offering up sacrifices to the LORD God Almighty.
“To whom God calls – God calls – it is only up to those whom He calls to be able to hear and obediently respond.”
And as we see in Samuel’s case, to be able to hear and answer one must take some time to be quiet and be still.
Three times the LORD comes to Samuel, but the first two times Samuel is so busy in his heart and mind that he fails to understand what is going on. He thinks that it is Eli the old priest that is calling him. And being faithful to his duties he wants to take care of Eli.
Now, even though Eli is not the best of priests (actually, he is a horrible priest), he does give Samuel some great advice
-Go back and lay down – be still and listen.
Don’t try to overthink anything – don’t strive - just be receptive – just be still. Be focused on hearing and then obeying. Be focused on being available.
What great advice from the old priest.
Samuel goes back to his bed determined to be still. To be still and wait for the voice to speak to him again.
The voice does speak and the Bible tells us that Samuel responded with these great words – Speak Lord, for your servant hears.
Speak, Lord for your servant hears.
All of this can lead to asking the question – Will or Does God speak to us today?
The Lord tells us in Jeremiah 33:3 – “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”
Jesus tells us - “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” – John 16:13
If there is anything that I have learned during my time here on God’s Good Earth is that there are hundreds of ways that God talks to us. But for us to hear Him we must do as Samuel did:
+We must get quiet +We must wait on the Lord
+We must do our best to hear God – whether hearing God through His words – through the leading of His Holy Spirit – or through creation itself – we must do our best to be receptive – to be still, to be quiet so that we can hear.
+And we must come with hearts that are predetermined to obey.
One of the greatest prayers that Jews have said since the time of the Great Exodus has been the Shema:
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. – Dt. 6:4-5
For the Jews, hearing equals obeying. One will not be able to hear unless one also is willing to obey.
Obedience leads to hearing and hearing leads to being obedient.
Young Samuel didn’t know what the LORD was going to say or to do but all of that was secondary. What was primary was his desire to obey whatever God wanted him to do.
The news that God shared with the young man that day was disturbing news. Eli’s sons were destined to come under the judgement of the LORD and Eli himself would come under judgement.
It couldn’t have been easy for Samuel to share that news with Eli but as we read the story, Eli not only listened to what the LORD had to say, he also accepted God’s judgement.
This would not be the only time that the LORD would use Samuel to share both some good news and some difficult news.
But in every case that you read about in the life of Samuel, it is a life that is ready to hear God speak and to respond in obedience to God’s voice.
Again – let’s focus on the words of Psalm 46:10
“Be still and know that I am God”
In fact, let’s take just 10-15 seconds and embody some stillness – quieting our hearts, minds and souls – focusing on God’s Presence with Us this morning.
II. Stillness led Israel to a New King
Let’s go further into Samuel’s life where we find him in 1 Samuel chapter 16 getting the opportunity to anoint a new king for Israel. A king that will change the nation of Israel forever.
It’s a great story as you read 1 Samuel 16.
Samuel is not sure which of Jesse’s sons is to be anointed. All he knows is that he has heard God tell him to go and anoint one of the sons.
I like the fact that we see God leading Samuel step by step. He doesn’t get the whole set of directions from the LORD immediately.
Often that is exactly how the LORD talks to us. He leads us step by step much like a Shepherd leads his sheep.
Personally, I think the LORD loves the longer dialogue with us. He loves to walk with us step by step. It enables us to spend more time with Him and through the process understand more about Him and His love for us.
This pattern didn’t begin and stop with Samuel.
We see the same truth echoed in the life of Jesus.
He leads his disciples and others step by step – the woman at the Well, Nathaniel sitting under the fig tree, Peter, James and John as they go up the Mount of Transfiguration, Mary at his feet and the old Pharisee Nicodemus as they meet one night.
You see the Holy Spirit doing the same thing with Saul, who would be called Paul in Acts 9 and with Ananias who would not only bring healing in Paul’s life but would help welcome him into the Way.
So, from Father, Son and Holy Spirit it seems like the Holy Trinity doesn’t just want to hand down to us a list of instructions, but they want to intimately work with us and alongside us as we travel through this life here on their Good Earth.
This is what happened to Samuel as he wondered which of the sons of Jesse would be the next king. Would it be the eldest Eliab or Abinadab.
Neither the Lord told him.
While each one was passing before Samuel, Samuel and the Lord were talking to one another.
It must have been a rather interesting sight.
Jesse is here with his sons. The Prophet, Judge and Priest Samuel has shown up and now wants Jesse’s sons to spend some time with him.
What in the world is going on?
What a strange day it is starting to be.
Finally, the 7th son spends time with Samuel and God still says no.
Now, Samuel is confused.
Is there an 8th son?
Yes, there is but you have got to be out of your mind Samuel. He is just a boy. He is only fit to take care of a few sheep.
I like what Samuel does. He doesn’t dismiss anyone but sends for someone to go and get David.
And as soon as David gets there the LORD tells Samuel – this is the one.
There is no mention of Samuel hesitating once he saw David and heard God.
I wonder if Samuel remembered that years ago another young boy had been called by God. A young boy that would become a Judge, a Prophet and Priest even though he was not of the tribe of Levi.
I wonder if Samuel was secretly smiling as he raises the horn of oil and anoints David.
Yahweh, Jehovah, the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY – you have done it again. You have called a person not because of their heritage, their height, their good looks, their great wisdom, their great wealth but because of their heart, their willingness to listen and obey you.
None of these stories and a hundred other stories in the Bible would have happened if the people God called had not quieten their hearts and lives to hear, obey, obey and hear Him.
You see you can have God around you at times and not see Him nor hear him.
We see this in the couple that walks down the Emmaus Road. For 5-7 miles Jesus and this couple walked together talking as they traveled.
All the time Jesus was sharing, teaching and giving of himself but they didn’t understand that it was Him.
It was only as they sat down, got quiet and began to think about God as they prepared to share the bread that their eyes were open.
And all of this isn’t just biblical history – this is the life of God’s Church today:
Susanna Wesley the mother of both John and Charles Wesley would take time each day to sit down in a chair, put her apron over her head and spend time with God in quietness and worship. John tells us that it was out of those moments that she knew how to follow God’s leadings.
Years ago, one of our churches realized the need of a full-time person to help guide and oversee the children’s ministry.
It wouldn’t be just any ministry. It would be one that was dedicated to seeing that from the time of a person’s birth to when they became an adult that they would be nurtured into the Bible, prayer and their own personal walk with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We were not looking for a babysitter or someone who would just teach a few little Bible stories. We were looking for someone who would be there to help people start their walk with the LORD from birth and beyond.
It took a year of praying and seeking God’s will for us to find that person. A year of waiting and listening, understanding that God was working on both sides; the church and the person.
And what an amazing ministry was started.
As you read through the Bible, you notice how many times great things happened as a person got quiet, opened themselves up to the LORD and responded to the LORD in obedience.
Abram becomes Abraham and becomes the Father of the Faithful. He and God talk under the stars and as they walk together through the desert.
Forced from her home, Hagar cries out to the LORD in pain and solitude and discovers that Yahweh is a God who sees her and will take care of her.
Moses sits down with the Lord at a burning bush and later has special times with God on the top of a mountain and in the tent of meeting that not only transformed his life but the lives of millions.
Elisha pushes away all the noise of the fire and wind to hear the soft voice of God which leads to the calling of Elisha and others that would do even greater things than he had done.
All of this is good you say – we do need to take time to get still and listen. But in our busy world how do we do that?
Do you realize how much noise is around us all day?
III. Stillness led the disciples from fear to faith.
In response to that let me direct you to Mark 4:35-41.
The Disciples were in a noisy situation. They were in the midst of a storm that seemed like it would take their lives.
Jesus on the other hand was asleep in the boat seemingly without a care in the world.
They woke him up and asked if he really cared about them. Was he going to let them die while he was sleeping?
I like what Jesus did. He got up and told the wind – Hey, Stop that.
I mean after all, Jesus had created the wind and the weather. Who better to tell it what to do than the Creator?
Maybe they thought Jesus was going to grab an oar or start bailing water out of the boat.
I doubt very seriously they thought He was going to stand up and talk to the wind like you would an unruly child – Stop that. Be Quiet. I was sleeping.
I also wonder what the look on those disciples’ faces were when all a sudden the storm ceased.
I mean turning water into wine is one thing but stopping a storm?
I mean healing a few broken bones and a few fevers is one thing but stopping a storm but just telling it to be quiet?
When you find your life being like a storm and you cannot find quietness or answers to your life questions – call upon Jesus and then wait for the time of quietness that He will bring.
You have to receive it.
It doesn’t take the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit very long to bring peace into your life. Or direction for that matter.
It does take being open.
It does take time waiting.
But whatever it takes – if we open ourselves up to the LORD then great things can happen.
Stillness, quietness, not striving with God but being at peace with God – being open, being ready to listen and to obey, to obey and then listen leads to a number of new adventures because it reshapes our hearts. It teaches us to recognize God’s voice and to respond to that voice in love.
Let me challenge all of us this morning:
This week, choose one place and one time to be still with God – no phone, no agenda, just resting and listening for His Presence.
Try praying Samuel’s prayer – Speak Lord for your servant is listening.
Or something along these lines:
Lord, we don’t have everything figured out. But we know that you do.
We are not always strong or wise or even ready for whatever comes next.
But we place our trust in You, the God who loves to walk with us – step by step, moment by moment.
We ask You to speak to us, to lead us and to walk with us along the way.
We place ourselves in Your hands and commit our hearts, minds and souls to you this day.
We understand that:
Stillness is not the end of the journey.
Stillness is the doorway to new adventures with the LORD leading.
We understand that:
It is in the quiet that the Lord shapes us.
It is in the silence that the Lord redirects us.
It is in the peace of His presence that He prepares us for what is next.
As we go from this place into a noisy and busy world, may we carry with us the courage to be still, the humility to listen, and the faith to obey.
And as we do, may we discover again and again that the Lord who speaks is faithful—and that life lived in His presence is always worth the wait.
Amen.
Closing Song of Affirmation:
Be Still and Know that I Am God – Hymn
or
Be Still My Soul – Kari Jobe
