The Right Voice - Samuel

The LORD came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening.”

1 Samuel 3:10

A Christian man having breakfast with a fellow believer sat in stunned silence as his friend and brother announced, “The Lord has told me that he wants me to leave my wife and marry another woman.” Within a few weeks, this deceived man acted on what he had “heard” with predictable results. His family life, his financial life, and his spiritual life all went up in flames.

Though this foolish man no doubt heard some voice telling him to follow his fleshly desires, the voice he heard could not have belonged to God. Samuel, the young future prophet whom God had set aside for a life of service and leadership, is an example of a man who learned to hear the real voice of God.

One night as he tried to fall asleep, Samuel heard the voice of someone calling his name. Believing that he had heard Eli’s voice, he arose to find out what his mentor wanted. Eli denied calling Samuel and sent him back to bed. When the same thing happened again, perhaps the confused Samuel thought, Maybe it was something I had for dinner.

Again, for the third time, came the voice.

This time Eli knew that something was up, so he instructed his protégé: “Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, ‘Speak, LORD, your servant is listening’” (1 Samuel 3:9).

Samuel did as he was told, and before long, he heard his heavenly Father’s voice again, giving him instructions for his first act as a prophet. That night, Samuel began a long and fruitful life of listening for God’s voice, as distinguished from the other voices whispering, shouting, and clamoring around him.

Though God doesn’t often speak to his children in an audible voice, he still regularly communicates with those who belong to him. How do you learn to hear God speak? It’s as simple as opening your Bible, humbling yourself, reading, making yourself available, and letting God know that you are actively listening.