Growing up I had to take this class in 8th grade where we basically learned different skills. It wasn’t a home ec class where we learned baking or sewing, though I took one of those in high school. No, this class taught us things like listening. We would take entire class sessions, where one person would sit and talk, while the other listened, and then the person listening would have to report what the other person said. This was also the class where we would go to nursing homes and put on puppet shows.
I don’t remember much else about that class, but the need to listen to people has stuck with me since then. And I’ve come to a conclusion that you cannot hope to learn, unless you’re willing to listen.
This brings us back to our series, where we’ll be looking at 1st Samuel chapter 3, starting in verse 1. In this series we’ve talking about what it means to have our lives wrecked by God. And this wrecking idea carries with it the reality that when we put our trust into Jesus as Savior, that old life we had is wrecked so that we can be children of God.
And so in our first week we looked at the life of Paul and saw how when Paul encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus, his self-righteousness was wrecked. He no longer viewed himself as a good Jew, but rather as a wretched man saved by the grace of God. And so we walked away from our first week with the understanding that we need to recognize our own wretchedness when we were separated from Jesus so that we can better understand his love for us now.
In our second week, we looked at the life of Nathaniel; one of the twelve apostles who we don’t know much about. We know his name, a little about his background, that he was a little arrogant, and a vague understanding of how he died. But what we saw in the only story about Nathanael was that Jesus saw him under a fig tree. That seeing by Jesus wrecked Nathanael’s life to a point where the arrogance would eventually be gone and a disciple would go to death for his Savior. We walked away from that week with the understating that we need to be content with God seeing us, and loose the desire to be seen by the world.
Then last week we looked at the Book of Esther and saw a young woman who had beauty and wisdom and followed the commands of God without God needing to speak. Because of her faithfulness to God’s Word, the Hebrew nation was saved from destruction. We walked away from this week with the understanding that we need to be doing what God has already said, while we actively watch for what God wants from us.
This brings us to 1st Samuel 3:1, where, since we’ve talked about doing God’s command without him speaking, we turn our attention to hearing God’s voice. Let’s read Samuel’s interaction starting in chapter 3, verse 1.
1 The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.
2 One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the Lord called Samuel.
Samuel answered, “Here I am.” 5 And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.
6 Again the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” “My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.”
7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.
8 A third time the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10 The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”
Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
11 And the Lord said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle. 12 At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family—from beginning to end. 13 For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons blasphemed God, and he failed to restrain them. 14 Therefore I swore to the house of Eli, ‘The guilt of Eli’s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.’”
15 Samuel lay down until morning and then opened the doors of the house of the Lord. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision, 16 but Eli called him and said, “Samuel, my son.”
Samuel answered, “Here I am.”
17 “What was it he said to you?” Eli asked. “Do not hide it from me. May God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything he told you.” 18 So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Then Eli said, “He is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes.”
19 The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground. 20 And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord. 21 The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word.
What is the one reoccurring action that is brought up in the passage? God’s calling of Samuel. Again and again God calls Samuel, but what’s the problem? Samuel doesn’t recognize God’s call. Why? Because Samuel doesn’t know God’s voice, and so mistakes it for Eli’s. But Eli eventually realizes what’s going on and directs the boy to what he needs to do.
This passage speaks volumes on how God speaks to us, giving us three ways in which it occurs. Not the only three ways, but three of the most common ways. And here’s the thing, when we’re talking about being wrecked by God, a part of that is having our perception of God’s interaction with us wrecked. God’s desire is to speak to his people, what we need to have done is have our ideas of what he does it wrecked, and reformed into what we see in Scripture. And in the passage of Samuel, we’re given three consistent ways God speaks to his people. So we need to learn how to listen the way God wants us to.
The first way in which God speaks is through more mature believers. When Samuel here’s a voice he assumes its Eli’s. But after three times of Samuel interrupting Eli’s rest, it’s Eli who realizes that it’s God speaking. So Eli sends Samuel back and gives him what to say in response to God.
It’s important to realize that no matter what age we are, we have people who can direct us in the path we are to go. We see this in the life of Moses in Exodus 18. Though Moses was God’s spokesman and leader of the Israelite nation, he was trying to do too much on his own, especially in the case of resolving conflicts with the people. It’s in Exodus chapter 18 that we see Moses’ father-in-law show up and say this in verse 17, “Moses’ father-in-law replied, ‘What you are doing is not good. 18 You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. 19 Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. 20 Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave. 21 But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 22 Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. 23 If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.’”
This is then followed in Exodus by God speaking at Mt. Sinai. When we listen to wise counsel, even unasked counsel, from people who are more mature than we are in the faith, it opens us up to the voice of God in our lives.
Solomon in Proverbs 1:8-9 states, “Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. 9 They are a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.”
Therefore one way in which we are to hear the voice of God, is to listen to what more mature believers have to say.
The second way in which we are to hear God’s voice is through an audible sound. Samuel is hearing the voice of God in an audible way, Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Peter, Paul, John all heard the audible voice of God.
Now this voice can be heard in two ways. The first is a booming sound like thunder. Listen to how it is described in the book of Job chapter 37, “2 Listen! Listen to the roar of his voice, to the rumbling that comes from his mouth. 3 He unleashes his lightning beneath the whole heaven and sends it to the ends of the earth. 4 After that comes the sound of his roar; he thunders with his majestic voice. When his voice resounds, he holds nothing back. 5 God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding (v. 2-5).” In God’s booming voice, it is inimitable and will shake us to our core. I will admit, I have never heard this great booming voice, and to be honest, I don’t know if I want to. It sounds terrifying, so much so that the people of Israel did not want to God to speak to them directly and so asked for Moses to be their mediator.
A second way the audible voice can be heard is in the case of Elijah in 1st Kings 19:9-18. Elijah flees from what he perceives is his death at the hands of Jezebel and God sends him to Mt. Sinai. There we’re told this starting in verse 11, “11 The Lord said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’”
This second way in which God’s voice can be heard audibly is the whisper. This, I have heard, and I believe is God’s primary audible style to those who are his people and are in a close relationship with him. A booming voice is what you use when getting over the noise that surrounds you, but a whisper is a voice you use in the intimacy of a relationship.
The final way we see God speaking to Samuel is in the last verse of the passage we read, “The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word.”
It was in and through God’s word that Samuel knew God. I believe that this is the primary way God speaks to his people. From his word, we’re told by Jesus in John 14:26, “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” God spoke to Joshua in the opening of his book, “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful (v.8).” The Hebrew writer states in their opening chapter, “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe (1-2).”
Countless times in my own life, God has spoken through his Word just what I needed, sometimes before, sometimes during, all the time when I needed it.
And there will be people that say things like, “If you talk to God that’s okay, but if he talks back then you’re crazy.” This is why we need to resign ourselves to only desiring to be seen by God and not the world. There are people in the world that already think Christians are crazy. There are people that think that Christianity is false, and even some that say it’s immoral. All I care about is what God says. Paul states in 1st Corinthians 1:18, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Let us seek God’s voice.
But we must put a couple of disclaimers on hearing the voice of God. First, God will never speak in contradiction to his already revealed word. Jesus said in Matthew 5:18-19, “For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
If ever we hear a voice that contradicts God’s Word, that voice is not from God and should be rejected. Paul said it like this in Galatians 1:8-9, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!” The Word of God will never, never, be contradicted by the voice of God. That’s why it’s so important for us to hear God through his word, so that we may know his voice when we hear it.
Second disclaimer, you are not less of a believer, if you do not hear an audible voice from God. Each of us are in a unique Father/child relationship with God and those relationships are both similar and different. Remember the Hebrew write states, “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways…” God spoke in various ways, and though the message is through the Son, God still speaks with variety. I’ve known people that have been physically grasped by God, I never have. I’ve known people that have had full on interactive visions from God, I never have. The way God speaks to you is how he decides and bears no greatness or diminishing of your standing in Christ.
Yet, we should seek to hear the voice of God; whether that be through more mature believers, audibly, or in his Word.
So this week I want to challenge you to put this into practice. Read through 1st Samuel 3:1-21, asking God to speak to you as he did with Samuel. Then go to a more mature believer and get their insights into God’s voice in their lives. To hear an audible voice from God, maybe sit out under the stars with no interruptions and just actively listen. And then read through the other passages that we’ve referenced today and seek God’s voice in his word.
Let us be a people who are seeking God’s voice, in a way that is within the unique relationships we have with him, so that we may better known and serve him. Amen.