Keeping the Faith; Never losing Hope; Always Loving

I Samuel 3:10 “And the Lord came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening.”

Here Samuel is trying to sleep and God intrudes in and calls out his name. Samuel automatically thinks that it is Eli who is calling him; it was not common for God to speak to folks in those days (what the text says). Eli then instructs Samuel that it is God and tells him what to say the next time God calls his name. And so we have this verse, Samuel is following direction and tells God he is listening. I find a couple of things interesting in this text. The first is the importance of Eli in helping Samuel discern this call. The other is the fact that God doesn’t speak to Samuel until he is ready to listen. God continues to call out Samuel’s name and when Samuel is ready to listen, God then gives Samuel his call.

My hunch is that God still calls in the same way today as He did with Samuel. I can look back in my life and see where there were those people that helped me to discern my call. I thank God for those folks that were able to tell me to listen, that God was speaking to me. I find it fascinating that God only calls out Samuel’s name and waits until Samuel is ready to listen before He tells Samuel his call. I believe that in Jesus Christ, God is calling out our names and I believe that God continues to call out our names until we are ready to listen. Isn’t it amazing how patient God is with us? God is waiting; longing for the day for His children to hear Him call them by name and be ready to listen to the call. Perhaps we all need people in our lives that are able to remind us to listen; to help us discern that we can prepare ourselves to listen so God will speak.

Lord Jesus, thank you for calling out my name. Thank you for putting people in my life to tell me to listen to your call. Thank you for giving me the grace to listen to your call upon my life. Use me as a tool to help others listen. I pray that all your children will hear their name and be ready to listen; I pray that you will stop having to repeat names and begin giving more instructions. Give me the grace to continue to listen. Please continue to speak to me and direct my paths. Give me the strength to speak your call regardless of the circumstances of my life. May you never be silent in my life. Amen!

Jesus will not speak until I’m ready to listen!

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