On Hearing from God Part 2: Positioning Yourself to Hear from God
Hey y'all, Good morning,
Please make sure to be intentional in keeping Aleppo in your prayers-the prayers of the righteous are powerful and effective so know that the time that we spend lifting up others in prayer matters. Please pray for provision, protection, peace, justice, love, redemption, restoration, and deep healing.
I ask that you also please Consider giving to the International Rescue Committee's Aleppo Fund. Even if it's just $10, collectively, $10 from many people who only have $10 to give can make a huge difference. We've spent enough time looking away from things that we don't feel directly affect us, please don't let this be another example of turning a blind eye to the suffering.
Yesterday, we read about about Samuel’s first instance of hearing the voice of the Lord.
Samuel was living and ministering in the house of the Lord before the very presence of God but He did not expect God to speak to him. When the Lord God called him in an audible voice, Samuel thought that Eli was the one who was calling him (verse 4). Again, this is because he had not yet learned to discern the voice of God and hadn’t come to expect God to speak to Him, but there was still hope for Samuel.
In verse 5, it seems as though Samuel has a lot of respect for Eli because when he thinks Eli is calling him he doesn’t lurk or hesitate (like some of us may do with our parents) but he comes running to Eli.
And still, Eli’s response is, “I did not call you, go back and lie down.”
In verse 6, God calls Samuel again. It’s kind of funny to imagine Samuel’s confusion and frustration running back and forth to Eli thinking that he was calling him. In turn, its amusing to imagine Eli over there wondering, what is wrong with this boy? Why is he hearing things? Why does he keep coming back here even though I’m not calling him? Will he let me sleep? And it’s probably this questioning that allows Eli to realize what is actually happening.
Also, I love how God doesn’t give up on Samuel or penalize him for not immediately recognizing or expecting his voice. God knows that Samuel doesn’t realize that it is him. God is patient with Samuel and is willing to meet Samuel where he is. This is also true to the character and nature of God. How many times is God patient with us when we don’t immediately get something or even when we deliberately disobey him? Maybe this is why He reveals His character as the Lord God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love (Exodus 34:6)? God is more patient with us than we may realize. Some acts of disobedience could have left us dead but God chose to spare our lives.
Also, in verse 6, Eli calls Samuel “my son” which speaks volumes as to the level of intimacy between them.
In verse 7, we see again that Samuel didn’t know the Lord yet he lived in the house of the Lord because the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.
Finally in verse 8, a light bulb goes off for Eli and he recognizes that God is talking to Samuel. How does Eli recognize that God is talking to Samuel? Because Eli knows the experience of hearing from God. He knows the Lord’s voice. Eli has been serving the Lord as a minister and he knows when God is speaking.
Sometimes we need people to help us hear and discern God’s voice when we can’t do so for ourselves—this is why community is important. And sometimes we need to intentionally seek out people who are skilled and trustworthy when it comes to hearing from God so that we can learn from them how to hear from God ourselves.
In verse 9 & 10 we see that Eli had to teach Samuel how to prepare to hear from God but Samuel actually had to heed this advice and position Himself to hear from God.
So how do we better position ourselves to hear from God? In order to answer this, I think that we have to ask ourselves, what are the distractions that keep us from hearing from God?
Do we expect God to speak to us? And if so, are we willing to take the time to slow down and hear from Him? In this iphone and smart phone generation where we are constantly plugged in the midst of the busyness of student life and everything else that we have going on, are we willing to create space to grow our relationship with God? Do we desire to pursue the voice of the Lord through spending time in His word? Are we willing to seek His understanding and better position ourselves to hear from him?
In vs. 10? I find it really interested that the scripture says that “The Lord came and stood there, calling out as other times.” What are we to make of the text saying that God actually stood there? Is this a physical person or a physical presence? I don’t think that there was a physical person standing there but I do think that it’s crazy that sometimes the presence of God can be right in our midst but for whatever reason we miss out on him whether its because we’re too busy, or not paying attention, or not expecting him to speak. So again, how do we create space in our lives to hear from God?
I pray that God would give us the grace to take time to withdraw from the busyness of life, our preoccupation with social media, and all of the other distractions that keep us from intentionally seeking Him out so that we may create space to come before His presence through prayer, worship, and the diligent and intentional study of His word. I also pray that God would help us to be intentional in seeking out a community of people who are longing to hear from God and who are seeking out His face that we may have a trustworthy and wise council to discern the voice of God. And I also pray that God will send those who are longing to hear His voice friends and mentors who will teach us the practice of listening prayer that we may be intentional in receiving the words that God wants to give us, in Christ’s name.
The Lord God gracious and compassionate is still speaking. May we learn to position ourselves to hear from Him.
In Christ,
Bola
