Hearing His Voice #135

Samuel was sleeping in the Tabernacle near the Ark of God. Suddenly the LORD called out, “Samuel!”

1 Samuel 3:3-4

God literally woke Samuel up by speaking to him in the middle of the night. But Samuel thought Eli the priest was calling him. It took three attempts for Eli to realize what was happening and advise Samuel to respond to the voice that was calling him. Samuel did, and the course of Israel’s history was changed.

But this story is about more than Samuel and Eli and Israel before its monarchy. It’s also a picture of how God’s voice comes to us. While we’re “sleeping” in darkness, He speaks. Like Samuel, we may not at first recognize the voice as His, but when we begin to respond, we discover that He has much to say to us. We may not at first realize the implications of God’s desire to communicate with us, but if we engage in the conversation, we find that the courses of our lives—and perhaps of history—are changed forever.

Samuel was near the Ark—in the place that represented God’s presence among His people—but he was asleep. Most of us spend a good portion of our lives asleep in God’s presence. We know God is with us, but we hardly expect a tangible encounter with Him. The encounter will come, and whether it’s tangible or not, it will startle us from our spiritual lethargy. Hearing His voice calls us out of our current posture and into an adventure with Him that can change the world around us. His voice makes us come alive.

Let God’s voice awaken you. Just as Jesus raised the dead with the sound of His voice, God will lift you out of whatever darkness surrounds you. Respond as Samuel did—“Speak, LORD, your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:9)—and His words will begin to flow. Your heart will come alive, more than ever before, to the sound of His voice.

Speak, Lord. I’m listening. I want to hear whatever You have to say. Call me out of my slumber. Use me as a world changer. Make my heart come alive by the power of Your words.