Called to Listen! October 11, 2009

The rain continued and the preacher, forced to the second floor to avoid drowning, continued to pray. Before long a rescue team in a motor boat came along and called to him to get in the boat. "No," the preacher said. "I'm not worried, God will save me."

The rain continued and the preacher, forced to climb out onto the roof to avoid drowning, continued to pray. Before long a rescue team in helicopter came along and called to him. "No," the preacher said. "I'm not worried, God will save me."

The rains continued and the preacher drowned!

Standing before God, he cried out angrily, "I trusted you to save me. But you let me drown!"

To which the Creator of the Universe replied simply, "I sent you a row boat, a motor boat and a helicopter. What more did you want?"

Like this preacher, Samuel did not recognize God's call. Our text says his failure was because, "This was at a time when the revelation of God was rarely heard or seen;" [1 Samuel 3:1] and it was "before Samuel knew God for himself." [1 Samuel 3:7] Samuel knew about God. After all he was literally raised in the temple. In thanksgiving for his birth, his mother, Hannah, dedicated his life to God and took him to live with the priest Eli as soon as he was weaned -around the age of 3 or 4. Yes, Samuel most certainly knew about God. He had joined his teacher Eli in saying prayers to God. He spent his days serving God. But Samuel didn't know God! Perhaps Samuel didn't even know that he was supposed to know God. Perhaps all the people around him assumed that God no longer spoke. They believed in God. They knew the stories of God's interactions with their ancestors. But they had no personal experience with God.

How like Samuel I was! My family never missed church unless one of us was sick. My parents were deeply involved in the life of the church and I followed in their footsteps. I believed in God, but it was not until I became part of a small group where we talked about what the scriptures had to say to our lives and struggled with issues of how to live our faith that I had any idea that I was supposed to know God.

It happened one night when the study we were using talked about having a personal relationship with Christ. I had never heard of such a thing. But we were each sent out to find a private place to pray a prayer of surrender saying, "Christ, I want you to be Lord of my life." Sitting alone in the dimly lit sanctuary, I struggled. What would it mean to have God direct my life? How would I know if the Spirit actually offered me guidance? Could I really trust where Christ would lead me? Finally, I managed to say "God I want to want you to take charge of my life; I want to want to follow where you lead; I want to want to hear you speaking. But right now that's the best I can do." I didn't hear God speak, not even in a whisper. But in that moment, I knew in the depths of my being that my life would never be the same.

Three times God called Samuel's name. Three times Samuel responded, even though he had no idea who it was that was disturbing his sleep. Then finally it dawned on Eli what was going on. And he sent Samuel back to bed with these words "If the voice calls again, say, 'Speak, God. I'm your servant, ready to listen.'"

How important it is for us to have people in our lives who help us hear and recognize the voice of God. Sometimes I have heard God speak clearly, but even then I need to check what I have heard with a trusted spiritual companion. Yet, most often God speaks in ways that are much more subtle. I remember the night at one of our small group sessions when I had an Eli who helped me recognize God's call. It was about two years after that night in the sanctuary. For several months during every check in, I had talked about how restless I was in my job, shared my explorations of different job possibilities and expressed my frustration that nothing seemed right. This night I said again what I had so often said, "The only time I feel at peace and like I'm doing what God wants me to do is when I'm working at church. If I were qualified I'd quite my job as a nurse and just work at church. But I'm not qualified."

That night my Eli said, "Nancy, did you ever think that perhaps your restlessness is God trying to get your attention to tell you that you are supposed to go back to school and get qualified to work in the church?" I laughed and said, "That's the dumbest idea I've ever heard." It took me more than six months after that night to finally say, "Speak God, I am your servant ready to listen." And the rest is, as they say, history.

Do you have an Eli, a person that helps you hear God calling? For make no mistake about it, God is calling; calling to offer comfort; calling to give guidance; calling you to wake up and tune in to God's dream for your life. In big ways and small, God is calling you to listen. Perhaps God is calling you to listen by adopting a discipline of reading a daily devotional like the Upper Room or Alive Now, available each month in our sanctuary or through on-line devotionals such as those from http://i.ucc.org/. Perhaps God is calling you to listen by participating in a small group that studies the Bible and seeks together to apply its wisdom to your daily life. Perhaps God is calling you to listen through prayer and mediation done alone or with a small group. Perhaps God is calling you to discover your spiritual gifts and tune in to those things that stir your heart and discover there the purpose of your life.

But make no mistake about it, God is calling. God is calling each and every one of us to listen and then to act on what we hear.

May we each learn to say with Samuel, "Speak God; I am your servant ready to listen." Amen.