Are You Listening? (1 Samuel 3:1–10)
“Are you listening to me!” How many of us have memories of that ringing in our ears over the years as parents or teachers sought to ensure we were focused on what they might have been saying or teaching us? “Are you listening to Me!” It might have rung even louder in our ears if we had not responded urgently enough or at all after it was spoken the first time. No matter who we are or what our upbringing is, there will have been someone at some point who will have asked us that question. Every day, something or something will try to get our ears to listen to them in some form, as everything today beckons for our attention and our listening. Our teachers have asked us that question, and our parents or guardians today still might ask us that question, or the places or people we work with, or we might find someone who wants to make sure we are listening to them.
I think it is more complex than ever to listen well today; there is so much calling out for attention that we want our ears to focus on them and our minds to consume their information. Every day, each of us is asked that question 100’s times, as adverts offer us the latest and best products, as the Radio gives us the latest news, as the podcast we are listening to tells us what our opinion on something, or how we should correct our opinion! Today, hearing and knowing what to listen to is more complex than ever. Suppose it’s not the media calling out to us or the books we read. In that case, it is simply the amount of distraction and nose that fills the air around us: our phones are constantly pinging with notifications, or we are constantly scrolling through endless posts on endless apps looking for something, listening to everything — even when we know there is something better, something more. Today, the choice of voices that we can now find and how we consume information makes it even harder to hear. You can find whatever opinion you want on the internet. Without any verification or validation, it will tell you all that you need to know, even if it is untrue and, then the more specific types of information that we seek out or listen to, the more that our social media will feed it to us, it becomes hard to hear because we are constantly being hit with information that algorithms and computers think we should be listening to. We live in a nosy world where it is hard to listen, and if we are honest, we are not even sure what to listen to. What should we be listening to? Who should we be listening to?
Listening Well
When you start to read the Bible, no matter where you start reading it, the one thing that will become clear Is how critical “listening is” to life with God and how bad the people of God have been at it. From Adam and Eve hearing and then ignoring the clear commands of God in the garden of Eden to the wandering of the People of God in the wilderness, where God spoke, they agreed to listen. Then they proceeded to do the opposite from Jonah, who heard clearly from God to go one way and then decided to go another instead. The Bible is clear about how important it is for disciples of Jesus to listen to God, yet it is also honest about how flawed humanity is at listening and doing.
What becomes so evident throughout the Scriptures if we engage openly and honestly is how important listening is and how powerful it should be. Why? When we read the word of God and begin to listen to the voice of God speaking to us through his Scriptures and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who is our helper and our ear, we start to see that listening is not something passive — it is active. To listen is to do; to listen is to be formed. Thus, everything we consume creates us in ways we might be conscious of and other ways we do not even think of. To listen is to be included in who we are, how we see the world and what we do in the world. This is why, as Christians, we must be conscious of all that we are listening to and, above all, strive to focus our attention on what God is speaking to us through his word and those he has called to teach it. Then, with the help of the Holy Spirit, as we listen, we must do. Listening is not passive; it is active, and God calls us to be good listeners not just simply by hearing what he says but by consuming the beauty of the Gospel truth and then putting that truth into practice by doing what God says. You can call it whatever you want: joining in the work of the Great Commission, heading to the fields, discipleship, evangelism, witnessing, Prayer or taking up our cross. But to listen well, we must be those who, in the power of the Holy Spirit, know the beauty of what we have heard by how we live. Isaiah wrote: “Pay attention and come to me; listen so that you will live“ to remind us that we find life by listening to the one who speaks the truth and calls us to himself. James built on this truth and wisdom by writing: “But don’t just listen to God’s word. It would be best if you did what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.“ Those who listen well to the King also live well in the Kingdom to make the King known. Today, we see something of what that looks like in our passage from 1 Samuel 3:1–10.
Passage 1 Samuel 3:1–10 NIV
”The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions. One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called Samuel. Samuel answered, ‘Here I am.’ 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. 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.’ Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. 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 realised that the Lord was calling the boy. 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. The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ Then Samuel said, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening.’”
1 The Lord Speaks to His Servants (1–5)
I remember someone in school who was very confident when they spoke. It did not matter what they were speaking about; when they spoke about it — it sounded like they knew what they were talking about like they had researched, studied the issue and come to a firm and informed perspective. After a while, we have learned that the opposite is often the case. My friend spoke with clarity and conviction, but it was rarely true. Yet, in our school, people were drawn to him. Even after things might have been found out to have been untrue, people still found themselves being drawn in! Why? Because it is only human, we like confidence and assume that it means someone knows what they are talking about. If they know what they are talking about, we think it means experience and then we might naturally follow.
There is a Reason for the Silence
The reality is that most of us want to listen; we want to avoid making difficult decisions or having to do the work ourselves to understand, so we wait patiently for someone with conviction to speak, and if we like what they say, we get in behind them — our listening becomes following. Even today, when there are so many voices to listen to and so many people telling us the voices we need to listen to, it can be hard to know who to speak to — we desire to have a voice to follow. The noise of today is difficult, yet as we join Samuel and Eli working in the Temple, imagine how much more difficult the silence must have been. The people of God have had the privilege of hearing God speak, and following his voice out of Egypt and through the wilderness, they decided to listen — even if they were awful at it. The people of God have been defined by their listening, following and obeying — that has been their identity. As they cried out, God heard them, and then, in their following, they were called to listen to him. Yet, as we join Samuel and Eli, it is an age of silence. God has not been speaking; God has not been heard. Yet, his people are still listening, and the problem is what they have been listening to; in the silence, the people have not sought the Lord gathered. They have turned their ears to different voices. The silence of the Lord has been deafening; God has not spoken, and his people have not been listening, and in the vacuum — they have turned to those who speak with clarity and confidence — no matter what they speak.
God always Speaks
In 1 Samuel 3, we are reminded that God is always present, active, and intentional. That is to say, there is a reason for the silence, and in the silence, God is still good and at work. God is not silent because he is huffing or having a tantrum; he is not quiet because he has lost focus or is distracted. God is silent because he is waiting for the right moment to speak, and late at night in the Tabernacle, as the light of the Lord dims and the ark is present, we get to see the moment God has been waiting for — Samuel. Now is the Lord’s time to speak, and yet the Lord say to his servant and calls his servant in such a way that he struggles to recognise. Yet, the beautiful thing that we are reminded of here is that Yahweh is not a god far from the world or disinterested in it; we see beautifully that God is always at work in the world. Additionally, we begin to learn through 1 Samuel 3 that God’s speaking is a part of his work in the world, and it is always with purpose.
We should rejoice that if we follow Jesus, we are those who have heard the voice of God speaking to us and calling us to himself and for his cause. We are sheep who have listened to the voice of the good shepherd. Furthermore, we should rejoice because he has spoken to call us and speaks to lead us. Yet, the contrast should cause us to consider our living and what we listen to. Who are we listening to if we do not follow Jesus’ voice? The good shepherd is calling us all today.
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Today, We have No Excuse to Ignore God’s voice
Secondly, we live in an age where we can give thanks that God is not silent; he speaks loudly and clearly every day, everywhere and in every way to his Church and the world. God is saying — even if we are not listening. He is speaking through his scriptures. When someone texts us a message, we know it is them by how they write, how they structure their sentence, even the jokes they use or the tone of the message. We recognise their voice in a written form of communication. The word of God is no different; it is the same voice Samuel heard calling us to a relationship with him through Christ and informing us what it means to like the king and live out the Kingdom.
Knowing When God Speaks (6–9)
God speaks, but that does not mean we are always able to hear or perhaps always willing to hear. Even to listen to the voice of God is a gift from God. Today, we are blessed by the written word of God, which is the voice of God in our age and in our day. Yet, have we ever considered that even to hear the voice of God from the word of God is a gift? Think about it: how many people have we known over the years who have engaged with scriptures and never heard God — never come to see the beauty of who Jesus is and the wonder of what he has done for them — many people. Academics have studied the scriptures and reduced them to lifeless pages; non-believers read them and wonder what it is all about. Yet, as Christians, we read and see the wonder of God, the beauty of Christ and the marvel of the Cross, and they are the exact words! Why? Because it is God the Holy Spirit in us, who brings life to the words of the Scriptures, and it is God the Holy Spirit who gifts us by Grace the ability to hear God speak through them, as the Spirit brings the words to life in us and through us and uses them to shape our living.
The words of the pages are only written words until the Spirit of God takes them into our hearts as the word of God. It is a gift of God to hear God speak the first time He calls us to him through the work of the Holy Spirit, and it is a continued gift of grace by faith for the word of God to take hold in our lives and lives. Have we realised that? Yet, even when we have responded to the call of God, we must be a people who are wise in what we listen to — we must have the wisdom to recognise the good shepherd’s voice. Notice how Samuel did not yet have the wisdom to know the voice of the Lord. God speaks, but we must learn to hear his voice clearly.
Eli had lost sight of what the Lord had called him to do and be; he had lost his way and had become selective in how he heard the lord speak or when he chose to follow it. We see this so clearly in verse 11 when the Lord began to talk to Samuel after he responded: “I will carry out against Eli everything I said about his family, from beginning to end. 13 I told him that I am going to judge his family forever because of the iniquity he knows about: his sons are cursing God, and he has not stopped them…” Eli knew the voice of the Lord and that when God speaks he must be listened to, yet, he displays what is so often the human condition — we only want to hear and do the things we want to do, rather than fully trust and depend on God. Eli here is the perfect example for us to be conscious of in our own lives, trying to be selective with the things we give God or when we want to hear the voice of God; that is not something that, as Children of God, we should ever want to do, desire to do or think we need to do — we know God is good because we have experienced it in Christ so when he speaks something to us through his word we must understand that it is the best thing for us. Yet, we want to hold on to our idols and distractions; we want to ignore being obedient because we do not want the hard work. Secondly, Eli is a warning to the leaders and ministers of the Lord we follow, those who have been called by God and know how to understand his voice and share it yet have grown apathetic to it throughout their call. As we are careful in our own listening and studying, striving to, by the Grace of the Holy Spirit, apply the voice of God to our whole lives so, we must make sure to be listening to leaders, ministers, preachers, and teachers who are doing the same. The whole of God’s counsel for the whole of our life and ministry. Eli was the example of someone who had developed selective hearing, yet he still knew how to recognise the voice of God, so he was able to help Sameul.
One of the ways we learn to understand how God is speaking to us is through those who have been walking with the Lord longer and have the wisdom to understand and help us understand the voice of God. Yes, we must make sure they are faithful in their listening, but God will use people who have been walking the Kingdom road to help us along the way. It is why Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11: “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” He had been helped in his walk by others, and now he understands that as part of his role to help people hear God, follow Christ and know what that looked like. It was Philip who found Nathaneal and helped him take his first steps on the walk of discipleship when he said: ‘We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.’ (John 1:45) We must be wise to whom we listen to. God speaks, and he uses his servants to help us, but we are also gifted to understand the word of God ourselves and hold accountable those who have been called to teach it and apply it. So we listen, but we also discern
If a minister in Church told you that from the following Sunday, all the men must sit at one side of the church and all the women at the other, I would pray you would have the wisdom to discern that the voice of God will never speak to such a specificity of worship, rather that in the Scripture the Lord always says to the heart behind our worship. So, if a minister gave such ridiculous instructions in church, we might have the wisdom to discern by listening to God through his word and the courage to rebuke by the same word.
The Right Response to the Call of God (10)
“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 realised that the Lord was calling the boy. 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. The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ Then Samuel said, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening.’”
We are blessed to worship a God who we know is present and active in our lives and the world. To know that when God speaks, it is not without purpose or aimlessly. There is always purpose and intent to his word, and as children of God who are marked by our following of Christ, we understand that when God speaks, it is to be heard, obeyed, and followed. Notice how Samuel began to understand that identity right from the beginning of his Call by God, two beautiful and key words mark his response to the call of God on his life. Notice them, and take time to consider them — Servant and Listening. Servant denotes an identity of one who submits to authority, specifically in this case as an act of Worship and obedience (it can also be translated as Slave). Listening quite literally means to hear with attention and interest and to understand. Samuel knew the depth of his listening and the identity of his following. Samuel displays for us today two proper outworkings of our identity in Christ and our following of Him. Thus, we must ask ourselves if we have gotten this in our personal life — Christ as Lord. To the beauty of the Cross and the wonder of Grace, can we say personally in response to what he has done: “Speak LORD (Christ) for your Servant is listening”?
Have we begun to understand the outworking of this in both our gathering as the body of Christ and what it means to worship him, that as the body of Christ, we come to listen to him and follow him, to do as he does and live as he lived, and to obey his commands to us and among us? When he says things like that, the world will know we are his disciples by how we love one another — he meant it. We must love one another! We gather as Churches and communities of faith not to speak and be heard, not to receive what we want or to have our preferences met. Still, because we are his disciples, we come together to worship with the attitude of Samuel displayed here. As one body together in Worship, we say: Speak, Lord, for Your servants are listening: Servants and listening. God speaks today through his word, which informs us of the way of Christ and the ethics of the Kingdom. The heart behind our gathering to worship is not necessarily how it should be done, and our call to live it out in the world is to know Jesus and make him understand. Are we those who have said, Yes, Lord, your servant is listening and with the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit continue to say it for our lives, this church, and our living as individual disciples and together as the body of Christ.
