HEARING THE VOICE OF GOD
I Samuel 3:10 The Lord came and stood there, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
The Lord had come to Samuel and had called him three different times, but being just a young boy he thought that it was the High Priest Eli. Eli had raised Samuel since he was just a very small boy. His mother had made him a Nazirite for life, and entrusted him to Eli to be raised for the glory of the Lord. Every night Samuel slept in the temple lying down by the Ark of the Covenant. Then came the night of his calling. At first Samuel though that Eli was calling him, and even Eli didn’t realize that it was God calling Samuel. Finally when Eli realized the Lord was calling Samuel he told him to say, “Speak your servant is listening.”
How do we know when God is speaking to us? For the most part everyone is like Samuel at first. After all there has to be a first time in everyone's life regarding hearing God speak to us. We may be young or older, but the Lord will speak to all of us. Whether we listen and obey is another story. And it is still another story if we will continue to want to listen for God to speak again. John 16:8 tells us that the Holy Spirit will convict us of our sins, the righteousness of Christ and the judgment of God. Often people call this their conscience, but it is the Holy Spirit speaking to our spirit. We know it is not Satan or the powers of darkness, because they would never tell us to repent of our sinfulness, the righteousness of Jesus and certainly not God’s great and fearful judgment! Satan and the powers of darkness certainly speak to our spirit, but we can be assured that it is never good! The two are as easy to recognize as black and white. They are opposites, and desire opposite things for our life. It is up to us to recognize the difference and chose which one we will continue to listen to and obey.
In Samuel’s case it took the experience of Eli’s years of listening to the Lord to help Samuel realize the Lord was speaking to him. This is a very good reason why it is so very important to have good Christian parents to help us to hear and understand God’s calling on our life. Unfortunately, sometimes we don’t have parents that are Christians and know the calling of the Lord. When this is the case a person’s only hope comes through friends, Sunday School teachers, pastors or the Bible. Verse 21 says that the Lord would later reveal himself through his word even to Samuel. God seldom speaks out loud to someone, although he certainly does it.
In order to recognize the Lord’s voice, a person really needs to be listening for it just like Samuel. Remember in verse 19 where Samuel said to the Lord to speak that he was listening. Hearing God requires not just a desire, but a concentrated effort. And it requires a listening with a sense of expectation! A half hearted effort will produce nothing with the Lord, but if you really want to hear from him the Lord is more than willing to talk to you all day long!
When we are listening for the Lord to speak to us he will through songs on the radio that are not even Christian. He will use co-workers and even children that are not Christians or even go to church. The Holy Spirit will speak to us through TV programs, birds singing in the trees, stormy clouds and beautiful sunsets. There is literally not avenue that God can not speak to us, if we are only listening with expectation.
How do we know if it is from the Lord, or if it is from Satan, the powers of darkness or our own wishful thinking? God will warn us if it is not from him. The Holy Spirit will put in our heart a feeling of uneasiness and doubt. When the Holy Spirit speaks to us we have a feeling of assurance, excitement, peace and expectation. Things will go smoothly with God filling the valleys and leveling the mountains. The Lord will give us confirmation as well just like he did Gideon. We just need to be careful we are not questioning God’s integrity. This God take offence to, and so would we! Hearing and recognizing the voice of the Lord comes as it does with a friend. The more we hear someone the more quickly we recognize their voice. It is amazing how quickly a baby will recognize their parents voice from that of a stranger. Jesus even said the same thing in regards to Christians recognizing his voice. (Jn 10:27)
Well what does the Holy Spirit want to tell us? Well, what do you want to know? We know that he reminds us when we sin. He will warn us not to sin when we are tempted. He reminds us to seek forgiveness when we do sin. (Christians live in a constant state of forgiveness of our past, present and even future sin as long as we continue to trust in Jesus) I believe that it is good for us to tell Jesus we are sorry when we become aware of our sins even if we are Christians. It is good for our conscience and our relationship with God. The Holy Spirit calls us to respect the righteousness of Jesus, and want to be like him. He reminds us of the judgment of God, not as a constant threat, but rather as a reminder to rejoice and to praise Jesus for what he did for us! The Holy Spirit will instruct us giving us wisdom, knowledge and insight into the physical and spiritual realms. He will teach us God’s word and not just memorizing verses, but the intent of what was, is and will be going on. I believe for every need we have God has the answer! All we have to do is ask him, and then listen in expectation for is response to come and it will come!
Prayer: Holy Spirit, thank you that you would want to speak to us. Please help us to have the desire to fellowship with you all day long. Please give us the wisdom, knowledge and insight into the things you would want us to know. In our anxious expectation of hearing from you, please help us to be patient and accepting. We ask this in Jesus’ name.
