God Speaking

“The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel, Samuel.” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening”

(1 Samuel 3: 10)

Just recently I found a charming cartoon in the newspaper from the series Family Circus. It depicted the little sister kneeling on her bed with hands clasped in prayer and saying, “I think we need to talk”. It was left to the reader to imagine what had prompted her to need to talk to God, but several options came to my mind, perhaps she needed to say sorry for some bad behaviour during the day, or perhaps some thing had happened at school that had bothered her, or perhaps she suddenly realised she had forgotten lately to keep in touch with the Lord and was desiring a fun time sharing with him.

The phrase is often used by adults to indicate to the other party that there is a problem between them, and it needs to be sorted out by sitting down together and talking it through.

I was thinking that it also applies to our walk with the Lord, just as the little girl in the cartoon implied. We all need to be in constant conversation with the Lord to avoid any coolness in our relationship.

Often when something serious comes up between people and one says I think we need to talk, often the outcome is one sadly saying but he didn’t listen to what I was saying.

Samuel was ready to listen carefully to what God was saying and obeyed him. Too often our prayers become the opposite of Samuel’s prayer and sound like this;

Listen Lord. Your servant wants to speak!

Moses has some very sound advice for the children of Israel before they entered the Promised Land and the same advice is still good for us today

“Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him….” (Deuteronomy 30: 19 – 20)

Listening to somebody requires clearing of one’s mind so the thoughts of the speaker are heard clearly. Too often we are thinking of our reply while the other is still speaking. We need to practice listening.

This also applies to speaking to the Lord. Too often we have a list of requests and woes to tell the Lord and forget that in any relationship talking means sharing thoughts. The Lord is longing to hear what is troubling us, but he also wants us to listen to what he wants to tell us.

Learning to sit quietly with the Lord without speaking, clearing one’s mind of extraneous thoughts cements our relationship with him, and beginning the day that way, clears the day of all the obstacles and gives us clear minds to cope with whatever comes our way. The Psalmists knew this only too well and advised us to do exactly that

“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him….” (Psalm 37: 7)