The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” 1 Samuel 3:10

During long hot Summer days, one of my favorite places to sit is on a rock in the middle of a stream. Hearing is such a strange thing when seated among the quiet sounds of water gently running over rocks. Though the sound of the water is small,  it fills our ear wells so much that a word spoken from even a short distance is somehow carried away.

In the same way we can often be like little Samuel. God was speaking and all he could do at first was to run to Eli and ask what the words meant. Eli wasn’t listening. Eli had no more communication with God because he had long ago stopped his ears to the Spirit’s quiet voice.

God was still speaking. God was still close but Eli was seated in the stream of the world’s voices and couldn’t hear. So God began to speak to the Samuel. Samuel didn’t yet know the Lord so when he heard his name being called, he didn’t recognize that it was God’s voice. In confusion, Samuel went again and again to Eli. Samuel’s repeated requests finally awoke a memory in Eli’s heart and he knew that God wanted to speak with Samuel. Eli may have sadly remembered too late for himself that he should have been seated in another stream. He should have found a rock in the midst of the stream of God’s voice. But he knew what Samuel had to do, so he gave him this instruction.

“Go back and lie down, and when the voice comes again, say, ‘speak for your servant is listening”.

Samuel did as Eli instructed and then God came again calling his name. In the same way, if we want to know God’s heart and direction we must , like Samuel be listening and ready to serve. Maybe today God’s voice has awakened something in your heart that no one else can hear. The only sure way to know is to wait on him. He will pass by again. When you hear His voice passing by then like Samuel say, “Speak for your servant is listening!” He will bring you to the stream of His presence and seat you on His rock. There in the stream of the Holy Spirit’s presence your spiritual ears will be filled with His voice. All other voices will dim. All other faces will fade. There in His presence you will know what only He alone can tell you. My prayer is that you will be blessed today, come and sit before Him and be a listener to the voice of God.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.        Helen Lemmel