Go Back to Bed

The Lord Speaks to Samuel

3 Meanwhile, the boy Samuel served the Lord by assisting Eli. Now in those days messages from the Lord were very rare, and visions were quite uncommon.

2 One night Eli, who was almost blind by now, had gone to bed. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was sleeping in the Tabernacle[a] near the Ark of God. 4 Suddenly the Lord called out, “Samuel!”

“Yes?” Samuel replied. “What is it?” 5 He got up and ran to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?”

“I didn’t call you,” Eli replied. “Go back to bed.” So he did.

6 Then the Lord called out again, “Samuel!”

Again Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?”

“I didn’t call you, my son,” Eli said. “Go back to bed.”

7 Samuel did not yet know the Lord because he had never had a message from the Lord before. 8 So the Lord called a third time, and once more Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?”

Then Eli realized it was the Lord who was calling the boy. 9 So he said to Samuel, “Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went back to bed.

10 And the Lord came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!”

And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening.”

The voice of God. Few ever get the opportunity to hear it. I mean, "hear it!" with our very own ears. We certainly do our best to listen for it, but most will go their entire life and never actually hear the voice of God speaking to them directly. 

So is it any wonder that this young boy doesn't recognize God's voice? 

We are told early in 1 Samuel that Hannah (Samuel's mother, eventually...) had no children. Yet, even though her husband's other wife (culturally, multiple wives was proper at this time) was able to provide children for him, he loved Hannah most. 

One day while Hannah was praying at the Tabernacle of God and weeping loudly, the High Priest Eli was sitting near the doorpost. She was praying, asking God for a son and in return, she promised to give the son back to God to serve him. The desperation of Hannah's prayer shows just how much she wanted to be a mother, even if it meant she could not keep the son she had wanted all her life. 

Hannah's promise to give her son back if God placed him in her womb was so crazy to Eli, that he questioned her about being drunk! But when she explained her pain with being barren, Eli blessed her. Hannah went home and conceived a son. When he was born, they named him Samuel, "Heard by God". Hannah enjoyed her son, holding him in her arms, rocking him to sleep, and feeding him to her breast... until he was weened. 

Then she took him to the temple to serve God by assisting Eli, the High Priest. And so we come to today's text. We are told that Samuel didn't know the Lord yet. He served God by serving God's priest, but he didn't have a personal relationship with God yet. In God's time. And here, God's time came. 

In God's time and in God's way, we will each hear from God. For some, though rare, it will be a voice in the night. For others, it will be a tingle as hairs stand on your arms and neck while singing a song. Or maybe you see a Cardinal or a sunset and feel the presence of God surrounding you. Or maybe, you just know deep within your being, where you have asked God to dwell, what it is that God is saying to you. 

Maybe you have never heard God's voice, or Holy bumps, or signs of the Spirit or anything else. That's okay too. Actually, Jesus says that it is one thing to hear or see and believe. But true belief comes from not hearing or not seeing and believing anyway. 

I've always thought, maybe I have heard God's voice a few times because my faith wasn't that strong and it was the only way God could get my attention!  So don't be hard on yourself if you haven't heard or seen a thing when it comes to God speaking to you. Be ready though, just in case. 

And if you aren't sure who it is calling you by the second or third time, hear some wisdom from Eli: 

“Go and lie down again, 

and if someone calls again, 

say, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.’”