Learning to Listen

Prayer

Call of Samuel

Don’t often think of the idea that we have to “learn to listen”. Assumption - of course, I can hear whatever a person is saying, sound that’s being made. But if we consider it, lots of ways we have to learn to listen if you really want to “hear.”

Avid birdwatchers - don’t just look in order to spot birds, but they listen. They have learned to listen for the distinctive sounds and songs of different birds so they can recognize them.

If you study music, learn to listen to a song or piece of music differently - the progression of chords, the different instruments, the interplay of the instruments.

One of the ways I’ve had to learn to listen is with my Capernaum friends, as sometimes they have difficulty with their speech and it’s hard to understand. I’m constantly asking them to repeat what they said so I can hear what they’re saying.

Active listening - are you really hearing what someone else is saying? Our tendency to hear things through our lens, our filter. Hear what we want to hear - or our minds are more concerned with what we’re thinking, our response. Active listening means that you would be able to repeat back to someone what they said. All these things require that we “learn to listen”. And today, how do we learn to listen to the Lord - hear his voice, his call?

Recap - where we are in the story of 1 Samuel that we just started last week when we looked at chapters 1 & first part of chapter 2, the story of Hannah and the birth of Samuel.

Hannah, the barren wife of Elkanah, cried out to the Lord, who heard her cry and blessed her with the birth of a son, whom she named Samuel, which sounds like the Hebrew for “heard by God” - God heard (because God listens!). And Hannah offered her child Samuel up to the Lord, dedicated him in service to Yahweh.

So Samuel, after he was weaned, was left with Eli at the tabernacle area in order to serve the Lord, which is where we left things. Now before we get to the story of God calling Samuel in 1 Samuel 3, two quick stories in chapter two that are important.

First, we learn a little about Eli’s sons, Phinehas & Hophni. 1 Samuel 2:12 says it all: Eli’s sons were scoundrels; they had no regard for the Lord. And this is especially bad because they were priests!

They would abuse their privileges they had as priests, forcing people who came forward with sacrifices to give them whatever portion of the meat they brought as an offering, before the fat had been burned off, per God’s commands. They weren’t satisfied with what had determined they could have as part of the sacrifices, they wanted what they wanted.

Not only that, but they slept with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting. We don’t get any detail about that - but whatever form it took, it was wrong. And even though Eli confronted them about their evil behavior, nothing changed. Failure wasn’t just on their part, but on Eli’s as well - Eli did not assert his authority as priest and their father to remove them from serving even though he was well aware of the fact that they were making a mockery of the priesthood.

So God sends a prophet, a man of God to Eli, and they message he has for Eli from God is not a good one - no good news here. Eli is called out by God for honoring his sons more than him - there’s even a suggestion in here that that Eli himself partook in their sinful behavior. Prophet tells Eli that no one in his family line will ever reach old age. Eli’s priestly line will be cut off, and both his sons will die on the same day.

Learn to Listen

Now, our main story, 1 Samuel 3:1-10: The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions. 2 One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the Lord called Samuel. Samuel answered, “Here I am.” 5 And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down. 6 Again the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” “My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. 8 A third time the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. 10 The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

So Samuel is ministering before the Lord - and here we get an insight to how God was dealing with his people - “in those days the word of the Lord was rare, there were not many visions (there’s a connection here between the word from God and his appearance). Not all that surprising considering the evil that was in the land (time of Judges).

We have this unusual incident one night - Eli is sleeping (we learn here about his loss of vision - which seems to correlate with his spiritual blindness). Samuel is lying down as well, as best as we can tell, it is in the Holy Place, inside the tabernacle, in the area where the lampstand was, altar of incense. The large curtain would have been there, separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place, the Holy of Holies where the ark of the covenant was located.

God calls to Samuel while he is sleeping, and he runs to Eli, thinking that it was he who called him. Here I am, you called me. Nope, I did not - go back to bed.

Samuel does go back to bed, and this scene plays out two more times before Eli clues into what is really going on - it’s the Lord who is calling Samuel. We get a little more in verse 7 - “Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.

Now, to be clear, this isn’t saying that Samuel hadn’t been learning the Torah, studying the law, it means that Samuel had not learned to listen, to know God, to recognize his voice.

After the third time Eli tells Samuel to respond to the Lord - “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” Which is exactly what Samuel does when God calls out to him for the fourth time. And the Lord gives him a message - he tells Samuel that he is about to bring his judgment on Eli and his sons, like he had told Eli before through the prophet he had sent to him.

Now, as you can imagine, Samuel is scared to share this news with Eli - Eli has been the main priest, a father figure to Samuel. God has given him the burden of sharing the terrible news that God is going to do what he promised to Eli and his sons.

But Eli is insistent (he knows the message must be important, after all, the word of the Lord was rare in those days), so Samuel finally tells him everything, which Eli humbly accepts.

And chapter 3 ends with this note, 1 Samuel 3:19-4:1, The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground. 20 And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord. 21 The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word. And Samuel’s word came to all Israel.

A few things here - it says that Lord was with Samuel as he grew up and he (the Lord) let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground. Those words, of course, were the words that Samuel received from the Lord. And God’s words never fall to the ground. They always go forth and accomplish what God says. God does not speak idle words. What he says, is.

Samuel received the word from the Lord - he learned to listen - and every word he shared came to be. It’s a reminder again of the truth of God’s word. His word stands. And all of Israel recognizes that Samuel is a prophet - he speaks forth the word of God. The big question is - will they listen? Will we listen?

Samuel had to learn to listen - remember, he did not know the word of the Lord, he didn’t recognize God’s voice, his speaking. And the same is true for us, we must learn to listen. Before I talk more about learning to listen, a couple of things I want to point out, what this passage teaches us about God’s word, about God speaking to us.

It’s helpful to remember why God speaks to us. God does not speak to us because he’s lonely, needs a friend - he is the triune God, God in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit - in perfect loving relationship within the Godhead. He doesn’t speak to us because he’s got something he needs to get off his chest, or he’s bored, trying to think some things through.

God speaks because he has something for us, for our good. God speaks because he wants to reveal himself to us - which is what we him to do. It’s the same as it is with us - we speak with each other, share our stories, in order to reveal ourselves to each other, so we can come to know each other better, grow in relationship (which makes sense, as we were made in God’s image). God is a relational being, personal - he speaks to reveal himself to us - so we can know and love and enjoy him - as he knows and loves and delights in us.

God also speaks to us because we need to learn how to live. God has to train us in righteousness, how to live rightly. At times that means God has to exhort us, warn us, correct us - because we’re engaged in wrong thinking, sinful behaviors, our hearts are hardened. Other times God is encouraging us toward to the good, showing us how best to live, training us so we can learn to not just to know Jesus, but to be like him.

And God speaks to us because he wants us to share in the work, the good that he is doing. God made us to partner with him in reigning over his creation. He’s given all us unique gifts so all of us have different ways in which we can do the good works he has for us. Ephesians 2:10 makes his clear - we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. For all these reasons God speaks - and for all these reasons, we need to learn to listen.

And Eli and Samuel know that - Notice what Eli says to Samuel when he tells him how to respond, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” Lord, I’m ready, what do you have for me?!? He recognizes himself as a servant of the Lord, ready to respond in obedience to whatever God says.

Gotta feel a little bad here for Samuel - because the first thing God has for him is to speak a word of judgment from God to Eli. He hesitates, he doesn’t want to do it. It reveals to us one of the things that makes learning to listen to God so difficult - God may well (and does) call us to do hard things. Challenging things.

But to listen to God is to obey him. If we are not putting into practice what Jesus teaches us, we aren’t really listening. It’s like when you would tell your child to do something and they don’t respond (they’re watching TV or on their phone), so you repeat what you said. And their response is, “I heard you.” You heard what I said to you, but you didn’t hear me, you didn’t do what I wanted.

But before we can respond in obedience. Before we can share what word God has given us, we must receive that word. We must learn to listen. A few thoughts on learning to listen:

Begins with this, a firm conviction that God speaks - he still speaks to us today. That God speaks to you and to me. God wants to reveal himself to us. That we really can hear God’s voice. Now, to be clear, the vast majority of the time it will not be an audible voice, as it was here with Samuel. But it could be. Most of the time, it will be through his word, as we engage the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit revealing what God wants us to know. Often it will be a thought, a realization coming into our mind. A slight nudge, something sticking out to us from God’s Word. But we should come to God with the expectation that he can and does and will speak to us - for all the reasons we mentioned before (to reveal, to teach, to call us).

Which means that the other essential aspect is that we put ourselves in a position to listen. Notice that when God speaks to Samuel, it’s when he’s alone, it’s at night, he’s in bed. It demonstrates to us that if we’re going to listen to God, we have to put ourselves in a position to hear him. Requires that we be still before him. (quiet, no rush, remove distractions)...

Spiritual Disciplines

Discipline of Meditation - God speaks first and foremost through his Word - why it’s essential we are in his word daily.

The Bible is known as God’s special revelation - there are some things we can only know about God because he chooses to reveal himself by speaking to us, through his word. But God also reveals himself generally - to everyone, through his creation. Romans 1:20 - For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

Paul is crystal clear here - even though we can’t see him (he’s invisible) everyone can know something of who God is (his eternal power, his divine nature - the fact that there is an eternal and powerful God) through his creation. Through observing the sky - stars, planets, sun, moon - world itself, all the animals, the oceans, mountains, all of it.

God speaks to us, he reveals himself through creation. Trusting this is true (that conviction, God speaks to us today), spend time this week being quiet, attentive to the created world. Great weather this week - sit outside in your backyard, be attentive to what you see and hear around you. Invite the Holy Spirit into your time. “Speak, Lord.”

Learn to listen - because who better to hear speak than God himself?!