the running reverend

In a recent post (“Listening to God”) I explored some of the difficulties of listening for God’s voice and discerning what it is that one has heard. It was asked whether we as leaders and churches have failed our congregations by not equipping and/or training them to listen and discern God’s voice.

No one responded to the post. Whether that means that there is in fact no difficulty when it comes to hearing and responding with discernment to God’s voice or whether it is indicative of the fact that there is a huge deficit in this area that we have absolutely no idea as to how to respond, I do not know.

What I do know is that as I opened Google Docs to revisit my sermon for this coming Sunday, I was greeted by the text of 1 Samuel 3.1-10, my research, and initial thoughts on the text.

Rather than uploading the document to Scribd and embedding it here, I’ve elected to simply quote the text and share some rudimentary (and possibly obvious) thoughts regarding the text. My hope is that the comment section of this post will serve as a grounds for a mutually beneficial conversation to take place around the topic of hearing God’s voice, knowing that one has heard God’s voice, and then acting on what has been communicated.

With that in mind, here is the text of 1 Samuel 3.1-10 (as quote from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible):

3.1 Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli. The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread. 2At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room; 3the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. 4Then the Lord called, “Samuel! Samuel!” and he said, “Here I am!” 5and ran to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down. 6The Lord called again, “Samuel!” Samuel got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” 7Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. 8The Lord called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. 9Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. 10Now the Lord came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

Some initial thoughts that I had regarding the text (thoughts that may or may not be significant and/or important):

1. Samuel was a boy. Quite simply, he wasn’t an adult. Could it be that we are much more open to hearing and/or not easily dismissing God’s voice as children? 
2. Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord. While it doesn’t seem that Samuel was in this place for spiritual reasons, I wonder whether it is significant that he was in a place that was believed to be “holy”? Might we also need to create and/or carve out sacred places?
3. Samuel was resting. In scripture humanity is admonished to be still and know that God is God. Similarly, on the seventh day (following six days of creation) God rested and thereby established a pattern for all of humanity. Could it be that our inability to hear God is tied to our lack of sacred space and to the fact that we are too busy and not rested enough to be attentive to God’s voice?
4. Samuel didn’t recognize the voice as God’s voice immediately. Might listening to and discerning God’s voice be a process rather than an instantaneous act?
5. The biblical text notes that Samiel did not yet know the Lord and that the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him (v. 7). Interestingly, it is the one (Samuel) who does not know the Lord who hears from God. By contrast, Eli, the one who has presumably walked with God and knows God intimately, does not hear the message. Does God’s speaking to us take a more dramatic and noticeable form when we aren’t as familiar with Him? Similarly, if we are familiar with God and the things of God, does God’s speaking to us take on a more subtle form?
6. Samuel goes to Eli for help in discerning what is taking place. Could it be that we have become so focused on our individual walk with God that we have missed the ways that God is speaking to us in and through the Christian community (local church)?
7. Samuel responds (on the third occasion) with an expression of his desire to listen. Could it be that we just plain aren’t willing to do the long, arduous, confusing, and sometimes painful work of listening to God? 

What do you see in this text? What comes to mind as it relates to the topic of listening to and discerning God’s voice as it relates to your life and direction?