Listening Versus Hearing

The account of Samuel in the third chapter of 1 Samuel is one I always love to revisit.

In this chapter, the Lord calls out to the young Samuel.

Samuel hears the call but mistakes it for that of his master Eli.

Samuel runs to Eli and says, “Here I am, for you called me.”

Eli tells Samuel that he did not call him and then tells him to go back and lie down.

Eli does.

A second time, the Lord calls out to Samuel.

Samuel returns to Eli and says, “Here I am, for you called me.”

Again, Eli tells Samuel that he did not call him and instructs him to go back and lie down.

Again, Samuel does as he is told,

A third time the Lord calls out to Samuel.

Samuel gets up a third time and goes to Eli and exclaims, “Here I am for you called me!”

I find it interesting that scripture includes an exclamation point at the end of Samuel’s third statement to Eli.

Apparently, Samuel was quite emphatic about his belief that Eli had called him and he obviously wanted to make his feelings known.

At this, Eli realizes that Someone has indeed been calling Samuel and that Someone was none other than the Lord Himself.

Eli tells Samuel to go back and lie down again.

He adds that the next time Samuel hears the call he should say, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.”

Samuel returned as he was told.

Then, something remarkable happened.

1 Samuel 3:10 (NET) – Then the LORD came and stood nearby, calling as He had previously done, “Samuel! Samuel!” Samuel replied, “Speak, for your servant is listening!”

The Lord then revealed to Samuel what He intended to do.

The Lord called out to Samuel in an audible voice three times and each time Samuel mistook the call for someone else.

The young Samuel heard, but was he really listening?

The Lord still communicates to us but often in more subtle ways.

So subtle, in fact, that we may easily mistake the call ourselves.

Eli told Samuel to reply, “Speak, for your servant is listening,”

Perhaps the best place for us to begin is to put aside the things which distract us.

Then we can truly listen.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, January 16, 2014.

I’ll be back here on Friday, January 23, 2014