Here I Am, Listening
“Then the Lord called Samuel, and he said, “Here I am!” and ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said,“I did not call, lie down again.” 1 Samuel 3:4-5
This happens three times and on the third call from God, Samuel is told by Eli to say, “Speak, for your servant hears.” Then God speaks his first prophetic word to the boy Samuel. “If only it were this easy,” we might say! If God would just speak in an audible voice like this to me, I would hear him! But this sort of experience seems to be out of the norm. When people say “the Lord said,” they seldom mean they heard a voice in the room. So what do they mean? Well, God speaks to our entire being, not just our ears and minds. His deepest communications are Spirit-to-spirit, heart-to-heart, and we sometimes know we have received a word before language comes to frame it up for our understanding. Sometimes the impression that he has delivered a word to us remains a while before we can grasp just what we have in fact received.
The fundamental truth we must receive from hearing God is very simple: our Good Father wants to speak to his children, as any good father does. Why wouldn’t he? We receive personal words from him when we listen for him in scripture, in godly conversation, in prayer, in small surprising moments. On one occasion, I was driving and praying about whether it was time to get a new truck. Just then I pulled up behind a pickup at a stop light and on its rear bumper was this sticker: “it can wait.” I felt surprise and then love. Daddy had responded to me! What mattered wasn’t that the decision was resolved, but that God had arranged this so carefully.
But sometimes (often?) we ask and wait, ask and wait, seemingly never getting an answer. Then we are to press in harder, draw closer to the Lord, saying “Here I am.” Waiting to hear builds patience and perseverance, allowing us with all those who wait to “mount up with wings like eagles” over our temporary urgency to enter his eternal peace. Part of hearing God is learning to wait for his timing, which is perfect.
Today’s Prayer: Father here I am. I want you to speak exactly what I need to hear in this moment. I want to be on your agenda not my own. I thank you that your heart is for me and that you know exactly how to reach me in my need at the right time.
Today’s Challenge: If you have to wait, to hear God; thank your Father for listening and responding in his wisdom and his timing. Ask him to finish whatever he is doing out of your sight.