“Bethany, wash your hands please. Dinner’s ready.” Engrossed in play, our little granddaughter totally ignored her dad’s instruction, so he repeated it. Again, no response. Turning up the volume slightly, my son advised, “Bethany! Switch on your ‘listening ears’! I said, ‘Go wash your hands. Dinner’s ready.’ ” Looking round, she tweaked both ears with an accompanying clucking noise and cutely replied, “I’m listening, Daddy. What did you say?”
One night young Samuel heard someone calling his name (1 Samuel 3:4). Unfortunately, he responded to the wrong person, to Eli (v. 5). He did not know who was speaking because “[he] did not yet know the Lord” (v. 7). And yet this is the boy who not only visited the Tabernacle but lived there . . . close to the very ark of God (v. 3 ). He didn’t merely listen to sermons but was brought up by the High Priest. Yet, Samuel had never before heard God speak, for “the Word of the Lord had not been revealed to him” (v. 7). All that changed for this boy who would later become God’s prophet (v. 20-21), and ultimately Israel’s kingmaker. And Samuel listened from that night.
Listening is active: giving attention to what you hear. How marvellous that God wants to speak into every area of our lives. Let’s make sure that we have our ‘listening ears’ switched on, or we may well miss something vitally important.
By Catherine Campbell
REFLECT & PRAY
Which practices help you to hear God speak? How are you listening and responding to what God has been saying to you recently?
Lord, it is humbling to know that You desire to speak with us. Holy Spirit, teach me to recognise Your voice above all others, and to respond in obedience and faith.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
In the early chapters of 1 Samuel, the author is adept at using contrast to highlight the difference between the sons of Eli and Samuel. First Samuel 2:12 notes that “Eli’s sons were scoundrels; they had no regard for the Lord” and “they slept with the women who served” as worship attendants (v. 22). Samuel, on the other hand, “continued to grow in stature and in favour with the Lord and with people” (v. 26). While Eli’s sons didn’t listen to their father’s rebuke ( v. 25), Samuel’s response to the Lord was, “Speak, for your servant is listening” (3:10).
Arthur Jackson
Our mission is to make the life-changing wisdom of the Bible understandable and accessible to all.
