1 Samuel 3:2-10: Listening

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.”

Samuel, it doesn't seem, was used to listening to God. He didn't recognize His voice when God was calling him. Eventually someone else had to tell him it was the Lord speaking to him and what to say.

Samuel was asleep, Samuel was young, Samuel was away from his parents' home. There was lots going on in his life being raised by a foster-type family with two older foster-type brothers who were not all that great.

It was in this context that the Lord called to Samuel, like He may call to each and anyone of us. But, because of all this or for some completely different reason, Samuel did not recognize the Lord.

My question for us today is what are some of the things in our life that get in the way of us hearing from the Lord?

My encouragement for us today is this: even in the midst of everything, the Lord did not give up calling Samuel. He will not give up calling us; so as there is something that He is trying to talk to us about, next time you hear His prompting let us say, 'yes Lord your servant is listening'

www.sheepspeak.com

Originally presented to River Street Cafe, 16 June 2017

https://salvogesis.blogspot.ca/

Comments

Beware: Christian Junk Food

THIS IS AN INTERESTING ARTICLE WE STUMBLED ACROSS BY ANNE GRAHAM LOTZ Why the average believer is starving for something more. By Anne Graham Lotz I love junk food—McDonald's french fries, Auntie Anne's pretzels, and almost any kind of pizza! If I'm not careful, though, I will gain unwanted pounds while getting zero nutrition. Many Christians seem to eat spiritually the way I am tempted to eat physically. They fill up on "junk food"—Christian books, CDs, TV programs, seminars, and all sorts of church activities—none of these are bad, really, but they lead to a sickly spiritual state if consumed apart from the true Bread of Life. We need the real nutritional "food" that will be served one day at the Wedding Supper referred to in Revelation 19:9, food that we can partake of right now as we dig into God's Living Word. For the past 17 years, as I have crisscrossed America, speaking at various conferences and churches, I have become convinced of

The Lourdes' Lessons (John 7, 4 & 5)

John 7:37-38: On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” We went to Sanctuaire de Notre-Dame de Lourdes . They have healing water in a spring there under the church that you can walk right up to. The story of the healing spring and the cathedral goes a little like this: Bernadette Soubirous, a 14-year-old peasant girl, on 11 February 1858 saw a vision of Mary, the mother of Jesus and was told to go and drink water from a spring which was to appear inside the grotto and wash herself with it. She did and she kept going there and by mid-July had seen Mary 18 times. She was also told to tell the priests to build a chapel at the grotto site. They did. The Cathedral was built over the spring and people – like us - still visit today. God is a God of miracles even today. There is a whole community built up

Ephesians 5:8-20: Jet Lag

The other day the whole family flew from Toronto to Victoria. Flying can be an adventure – especially when you are travelling with young children. This most recent trip was probably the first one from which we all experienced Jet Lag. Jet Lag is an awful feeling. It wastes your whole day. We have only one week’s holiday and during that time I have some work to do as well and the whole first day or even two are wasted. Jet Lag is when you feel so tired you can’t really enjoy your day or be productive. It is only when you get over this that you can do what you need to do and experience life. Are there times we suffer from Spiritual Jet Lag? We want to pray and read our Scriptures and associate with other Christians in a Christian context, we want to even sing praises to the Lord and thank Him for everything but we just seem to be lethargic instead. God really will get us where we are going a lot faster than any jet but sometimes our strength will lag behind us. This is why t

Salvogesis

Search This Blog