HOW TO LISTEN TO GOD

1 SAMUEL 3:1-21
INTRODUCTION
Four-year-old Jason was visiting his grandparents. Grandpa was in his study intently reading. Jason walked in carrying a peach, said something Grandpa didn't catch, and handed the peach to him.

Thinking his wife had sent him a snack; Grandpa took it and ate it. Just as he swallowed the last bite, Jason, with lip quivering, said, “But, Pap, I didn't want you to eat it. I just wanted you to get the worm out!”

In Directions, James Hamilton writes:
Before refrigerators, people used icehouses to preserve their food. Icehouses had thick walls, no windows, and a tightly fitted door. In winter, when streams and lakes were frozen, large blocks of ice were cut, hauled to the icehouses, and covered with sawdust. Often the ice would last well into the summer.

One man lost a valuable watch while working in an icehouse. He searched diligently for it, carefully raking through the sawdust, but didn't find it. His fellow workers also looked, but their efforts, too, proved futile. A small boy who heard about the fruitless search slipped into the icehouse during the noon hour and soon emerged with the watch.

Amazed, the men asked him how he found it. “I closed the door,” the boy replied, “lay down in the sawdust, and kept very still. Soon I heard the watch ticking.”

Often the question is not whether God is speaking, but whether we are being still enough, and quiet enough, to hear.

I. THE MINISTRY TRAINING OF THE LORD'S SERVANT VV. 1-3

Background
Samuel, as a youthful Levite was providing service to the Lord under the instruction of Eli. In the days of Eli, prophetic revelations in the form of visions and divine words were rare. Prophetic revelations were rare because this marked a transition from the days of the Judges to the dawning of Samuel. In the days of the Judges there was a sad and scathing remark at the conclusion of the book: “In those days there was no king in Israel, everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25). That was a sad situation to mark Israel's history at the conclusion of the book of Judges.

Visions and prophetic words were rare not because God had chosen to be silent. Rather, the people were not in tune with God.

Can the same thing be said about our church that God is speaking but we are not in tune with God, because like the days of the Judges, everyone is doing what is right in his own eyes?

Eli the priest of God was losing his sight. His eyes have become so weak that he could barely see. Eli's weak eyes also affected his spiritual insight. One wonders why Hannah would send her son Samuel to Eli to train him. Because Eli was the same person who mistook Hannah's anguish prayer for drunkenness. Eli's spiritual insight was shallow and found wanting. Proverbs 29:18 states, “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint: But happy is he who keeps the law.” Eli the priest of God could not restrain his own children.

How can a man lead the flock of Christ if he could not control his own children (1 Tim. 3:4)? In the house of God, where the ark of God was, only the boy Samuel was close to God both spatially and spiritually. Of all Israelites, in those days Samuel was closest to the Lord's throne. Due to Eli's old age, the boy Samuel became the active substitute priest. Remember too that Samuel is a Levite. Therefore, he is qualified to serve as the Lord's priest.

When God is speaking to adults who are spiritually dull of hearing His voice, He would choose the youth, the young people who are sensitive to His voice and speak through them. God is always speaking, the question is, are you listening to Him? Samuel was lying at the holy place, where the ark of the Lord was. Samuel was closer to God physically and spiritually than Eli and his sons. Are you closer to God so that when He speaks you can hear?

II. THE LORD CALLS HIS SERVANT VV. 4-10
While Samuel was fulfilling his duties to tend or light the lamp of God, the Lord called him and delivered a message of judgment to him. When the voice of the Lord came, Samuel answered, “Here I am.” Samuel thought it was Eli who was calling him so he ran to him. The call came again, “Samuel.” Samuel ran to Eli. Eli's response was, I did not call, go back to sleep. Why did Eli twice turn Samuel away (vv. 5-6)? Perhaps because Eli was blind to the possibility of the Lord revealing Himself in a personal way. Eli was a priest without any spiritual sensitivity.

The venerable priest was scarcely more spiritually enlightened than his spiritually rebellious sons were. Like father, like sons (1:12-16). Brothers and sisters if you are not interested in the things of God, your children will take after you. When you take the things of God for granted, don't think that your children out of the blue will become spiritual giants. The Lord's voice was unfamiliar to Eli the priest. What a sad note. What a shame to the priest of God. This is a warning and a lesson to all spiritual leaders. Yes, it is possible to be a spiritual leader and at the same time lose all spiritual sensitivity because you refuse to pay heed to the voice of the Lord when He speaks to you.

Verse 7 tells us that “Samuel did not yet know the LORD.” This means that Samuel did not have a direct experience of the LORD, such as having received a revelation from the LORD. The LORD has not yet revealed His word to Samuel. An important lesson that the youth and even adults of this church can learn is that Samuel was not familiar with the voice of the Lord, but he was available to Him. Are you available to the LORD? If you are available to the Lord and He hasn't revealed His word to you that is okay. Because when the time comes for Him to speak to you, you will be ready and available. Amen.

Verses 8-10. Eventually, however, Eli, the elderly priest came to understand that the Lord was calling the youthful Samuel and advised him to respond submissively. He said, “Go and lie down, and if He calls you, say, 'Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.” So Samuel went back to bed.

On the climactic fourth approach to Samuel, the Lord called the boy Samuel's name twice and also “stood.”

The repetition of the personal name is reminiscent of the LORD's call to Abraham at Mount Moriah (Gen. 22:1, 11) and the call to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:4). The similarity suggests that this moment was as important in Samuel's life and for all Israel as the parallel moments in the lives of Abraham and Moses. Samuel obediently identified himself as the Lord's “servant” (v. 10). Are you the Lord's servant?

This is a lesson to the youth and all parents. In the Bible God chose and called some people when they were young at age. A typical example is Samuel. Some of the young people God called and used were Joseph, David, Josiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Meshack, Shadrack, and Abednego, Esther, Mary the mother of Jesus, and Timothy. All these Bible characters were young when God called them and used them. Therefore, parents don't give excuses and say he is just a boy; she is just a girl. The Lord knows the young people whose tender hearts are sensitive to Him. Do you want your sons and daughters to waste their lives in sin and fruitless living before they come to the Lord? A life lived for the Lord is the productive life. A life lived outside the will of God is a wasted life.

III. THE LORD REVEALS HIS WORD TO HIS SERVANT VV. 11-21

The Lord's terrifying revelation was in fact, a confirmation of the judgment against the house of Eli by the unnamed prophet (2:3-36). Though prophetic messages could be conditional warnings of possible consequences, resulting from continued disobedience (e.g. Jonah 3:4)—in the case of the words spoken against the house of Eli they were certain. The judgment against the house of Eli was irrevocable. Every promised outcome “from beginning to end" (v. 12) would become reality. And Eli, the family patriarch would bear the brunt of the blame, because “he knew about” (v. 13) his sons' willful disobedience, but “failed to restrain them” (Deut. 21:18-21). The word “contemptible” means “to make light,” its antonym is the word “honoring” or "giving weight.” The term indicates an action that detracts from prestige or esteem of authority. In other words, the sons of Eli did not honor the Lord; neither did they esteem the authority of God. Eli's conscious failure to enforce divine law in his own family amounted to a high-handed (that is deliberate) sin; as such, it could never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering (v. 14; cf. Num. 15:30-31).

This is a warning to all of us. There are some of you who are passive listeners to the word of God. When you come to church all that you do is to sing, dance, and pray. You don't listen to the word of God. You can't wait for the preaching to end so that you can rush home. In the Hebrew mindset to listen is to obey. To listen or hear is to do what God is telling you. When you become a passive listener you refuse to carry out what God is telling you to do. Eli was a priest but he was a passive listener, and so God stopped speaking directly to him. There is a phrase that is used several times in the Book of Revelation. It goes something like this; “He who has ears let him hear what the Spirit says.” The irony is that the message that God gave to Samuel was not for Samuel himself; it was for Eli and his family. When a man or a woman of God is speaking to you, you better listen and listen well. Samuel was an aggressive listener and the Lord knew it. I would like for you to become an aggressive listener. Aggressive listeners come to church with a pen and a note book ready to write down what God is saying to them. God's message through Samuel to Eli and his sons were a serious one.

The magnitude and form of God's judgment would be so shocking that it would cause “the ears of everyone who hears it to tingle” (cf. 2 Kings 21:12; Jer. 19:3). God is saying that the coming judgment on Eli's family would be so shocking that it will give rise to fear and dismay. The cup of Eli's children is full. They have committed the unpardonable sin. The NT teaches that there is a sin unto death, and the word of God says that when a person commits this sin unto death, we are not to pray for him/her (1 John 5:16).

Why do I preach here Sunday by Sunday? Why do we teach the Bible on Sundays and Wednesdays? Why do we witness to people about Christ? Do you think I preach and teach for fun? Do you think we share Christ with you and others just for fun? No! Absolutely not. We preach and teach the truth of God because we don't want you to come under God's judgment. We preach and teach the word of God because we want you to fall in love with Jesus Christ. We preach and teach the truth because we want you to develop a personal intimate walk with the Lord. My question to you is that have you stopped listening to God that he has to use another person in order to get your attention?

Verse 15, Samuel slept over the message that God conveyed to him. He was also afraid to give the message to Eli, his spiritual father. Now, with Samuel, God is ushering in a new era of spiritual consciousness in Israel. Nevertheless, Samuel entered into his role as the Lord's spokesman with some hesitation. “He was afraid to tell Eli the vision." Eli's fatherly assurances and stern admonition provided the encouragement Samuel needed to perform his duty. Actually Eli threatened Samuel with a curse not to hide anything from him. Why was Eli anxious to know the word of God through Samuel? The reason is simple; he had failed to become the spiritual leader and a father to his rebellious children. Eli himself was culpable, because God says that he did not restrain his children. He ignored God's warning against his children. He ignored the complaint of the people regarding the way his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas were treating the Lord's offerings.

A father or parent who refuses to pay attention to the behavior of his children is not wise. A father or parent who shuts his eyes and ears to the way his children are profaning the name of the Lord is sanctioning their untimely death and his own shame.

At Eli's insistence, Samuel told him the whole vision from the Lord. Nobody wants to be a bearer of bad news. However, the prophetic ministry is such that sometimes you have to be a bearer of bad news. When the Lord gives you a prophetic word, you are under divine obligation to share it with the person or persons. What bothers me is the attitude of indifference and resignation with which Eli accepts God's verdict. He said, “He is the LORD; let Him do what is good in His eyes.” This shows that Eli had been discharging his duties in his own power. His passive attitude towards his children and the things of the Lord had created a wedge between him and the Lord that he could no longer hear God's voice directly.

Now the Lord has found a young man whose heart and ears are opened to Him. “The LORD was with Samuel” (v. 19). The LORD was at work in Samuel's life, from the moment of his conception (1:19-20), through his early development (2:21, 26), into his entrance to the prophetic ministry (3:4, 6, 8, 10), and now in the maturation of that ministry.

The Lord did not let Samuel's prophetic utterances “fall to the ground.” In other words, Samuel's words, like those of any authentic prophet were authoritative and trustworthy because they were the Lord's words. Samuel's success was in fact the Lord's success. Samuel became a reliable prophet. The Lord has found his man to speak His infallible word to His people. For the first time since Moses, Israel had a national prophet. Now Samuel has become a prophet of God to the twelve tribes of Israel. The Lord is still speaking today. Are you listening to Him? Can you distinguish the voice of the Lord from other voices? In order to hear the voice of the Lord, you have to learn how to turn off other voices so that you can hear the voice of the Lord. Right now, what voice are you hearing? What message are you hearing? When God's word comes to you what do you do with it?