The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” The Samuel said, “Speak, for your Servant is listening.” (1 Samuel 3:10)

Samuel was a very young boy the first time he heard the word of the Lord. He had no idea that God could possibly be speaking to him. So confused as to where this voice was coming from he went to his mentor, Eli, one of the prophets and asked if he was calling him.

Eli knew something that Samuel and often we don’t know and that is that God is a God who speaks. So Samuel needed to be ready to listen. Eli encouraged Samuel to make this prayer and have a posture of listening. “Speak for your servant is listening”.

We talk a lot about prayer but prayer is more than talking at God or talking to God. Prayer is a conversation with God. And so Eli’s counsel to Samuel, and to us, encouraged him to hear from God —the God who spoke the world into existence through the scriptures and who still speaks through His word.

Not all of are going to hear it audibly but the idea that God has something in particular to say to us is powerful, isn’t it?

God might illuminate a piece of scripture,
God might put an impression on our heart or mind,
God might bring in the counsel of a friend or, a lyric of a song into our mind as a way of speaking to us.

God is speaking all the time but are we ready to listen?

I can’t tell you the number of times I have experienced this but only when I stopped to actively listen and discern.

Recently I was struggling with some anxiety over a situation. I prayed for clarity, I prayed for peace, I was tied up in knots. Later in the day, while I was still stewing, a friend sent me a text out of the blue. They didn’t know I was obsessing about a particular situation. Interestingly, here are some of the key things they wrote… “Thinking about you today….know that you are loved… Life is going to throw us some curve balls. We may not be able to change the circumstances but we can change how we internalize it, and how we process it. We have control of how we think about the situation.” The message went on about other things but let me tell you, those words were like suave on a burn. It was healing and timely and I believe the timing was not a coincidence. I believe that God was speaking through my friend. In that moment my faith was increased and my heart was full of gratitude. And as I journaled God’s faithfulness in speaking to me through my friend, I was able to reposition my anxiety.

I think we can learn something from Samuel. During this Lenten season, be ready to listen and lean in while you say to the Lord, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”