So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, your servant is listening.’” (1 Samuel 3:9, NIV)
Yesterday we considered the excellence of trusting God, even when we do not understand what he is doing among us. This does not mean we are not allowed to ask him!
If you are taking a lesson to correct the flaws in your golf swing, you are certain to receive some instruction that both feels awkward to your body and confuses your brain. You can take the instruction without variance and slug it out with the next few practice balls, but more likely you will first ask your teacher, “OK, but what is this? What are we trying to do here?”
Your teacher would not see this as insolence. Rather, he or she would likely anticipate such a question and normally honor it with an explanatory response.
God may not always answer in the way that your teaching pro would, but he is certainly willing to hear our questions.
One night, a boy named Samuel, in the care of the priest Eli, was repeatedly awakened from his sleep by the voice of God. Not having experienced this before, he was rather uncertain what to do. So he got up from his bed, went to see Eli—whose voice he thought was calling him—and asked why the old priest kept beckoning him.
God may not always answer in the way that your teaching pro would, but he is certainly willing to hear our questions.Eli explained that it was not he but God who was calling Samuel. “Go back to bed,” he told Samuel. “And the next time you hear God’s call, answer him, ‘Yes, LORD, what is it?’”
Samuel did this very thing. And when God called his name again, the boy said, “I’m listening, LORD. What is it that you are doing?” God went on to explain his plans to Samuel, the beginning of a life throughout which Samuel heard God’s voice and ministered prophetically among the people of Israel, including the anointing of both Saul and David as the kings of God’s choice.
You and I will be confused—perhaps often—by what God is saying or doing in our lives. At times we may deem it best to “shut up and stand back,” just waiting to see what God is working out in us, around us, through us. But more normally, we may find it right to engage God with a question or two: “What is it, Lord? What are you doing here? I want to know so I can respond best.”
In other words, go ahead and talk to God! You may be amazed at what you hear!
—
Jeff Hopper
Originally published January 20, 2011
Copyright 2011 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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