Is it possible to hear without hearing? Or to listen without hearing? Or is it possible to hear if your ears are not functioning? Or to listen to the wrong thing? Or maybe misinterpret what you hear?
Samuel, the Old Testament prophet, grew up under the mentorship of Eli. One night, as a young boy, Samuel heard a voice calling him three times, and he ran to Eli to respond. Eli finally (it took three times for a prophet to recognize when God is calling?) told Samuel to say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”
God actually came to stand close to Samuel the fourth time He called, and Samuel answered Him as Eli said he should. God gave Samuel instructions and explained the near future to him. Samuel began his ministry as he learned to hear God in the darkness while still a child.
Oswald Chambers talks about a time of darkness. This is not when despair reigns, but instead a gentle time of quietness: to sit still, and listen. Perhaps then our inner ear is active and hears.
Often we are hindered because other things are clamoring for our attention – and get it. Maybe we misinterpret what we think we hear because we are so sure of our service or our convictions and we think we know what God wants. We don’t have to listen, just act.
Or maybe God moves us into a time of darkness—where His hand shields us from the world. We sit in our living room with low lights and wait for His voice. Or sit outside and watch the stars and wait for His voice. Maybe it’s not words that come. Maybe it’s just a gentle warmth and we know He’s with us.
Chambers says this is not a time to speak, but to listen. He says if we talk then, we talk in a wrong mood. It is a sacred time when the soul waits upon the Spirit.
In your daily clamor—when was the last time you heard God’s voice calling you?
“Now the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel answered, “Speak, for Your servant hears” I Samuel 3:10.
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