The Art of Listening

Hearing and discerning the voice of God can be an artistic, mystical experience. If you have ever said something like, “I do not know how to hear the voice of God”, you are not alone…but you do not have to be stuck in that mode. All followers of Christ can hear the voice of God. There are some lessons that can be learned. I learned some this morning in my reading of 1 Samuel 2 & 3. To get the full force of the lessons from 1 Samuel 2 & 3, let me give you a brief overview. Eli was the current priest and prophet for Israel. He had 2 sons who were serving Israel as priests, but they had turned their back on God and were doing only what they wanted to do. They were sinning in all sorts of heinous ways. They were not following God’s standards for the sacrifices, they would steal meat for the worshippers and they were fornicating with women who were serving in the place of worship. It was really bad. In the midst of this bad situation, God had brought a young boy named Samuel to be raised by Eli in the tabernacle and would eventually take over Eli’s position. Samuel came to live there when he was between 3-5 years old. Eli was getting old, but it appears that he was not and had never really disciplined or confronted his sons in a real way about all of the sin that they were committing as representatives of God to the people. It was a really bad situation. A man of God was sent to Eli to confront him about his squandering of his position with all of the sin that his sons were committing. God’s heart was on fire against all that was happening. God even said to Eli that he was, “…honor(ing) your sons above Me.” Then the man, sent from God, told Eli about God’s judgment upon his family. His sons would both die on the same day. That sounds awful to me. God was not in the mood to be speaking much to his people at this time, probably due to the gross amount of sin (Eli’s sons) and the winking at sin (Eli). God was also boycotting the dreams of folks (1 Samuel 3:1). At the same time, God was pleased with Samuel (1 Samuel 3:19), the little boy who was growing in the ways of God and becoming a strong man of God – even in the midst of much sin. At least we know that our environment is not an excuse for being strong in God (that is another strong lesson that I should write on). So, what about listening to and for the voice of the Lord in our lives. 1 Samuel 3 tells the story of God calling Samuel’s name on four occasions, but Samuel thinks it is Eli calling him. The first three times, Samuel goes to Eli and says, you called me, and here I am. Each time, Eli says I did not call you go back to bed. On the third time, Eli gets realizes that it is God who is calling Samuel and instructs (mentors) Samuel that the next time he hears his name called to say, “Here I am Lord, speak.” You should read the account in 1 Samuel 3 for yourself. So here are some things that I learn from this passage regarding the art of listening to and for the voice of God: Sin Sin seems to impede the voice of God in our lives. Because of the gross and intentional sin that was being tolerated by Eli, his sons and the people (they didn’t rise up against them), God was in a silent mood for a period of time. Psalm 66:18 says, “If I regard sin in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” This is a statement about intimacy with God. So, when there is known, unrepentant sin in our lives, we may have trouble hearing from God or He may be choosing to draw us to repentance before He begins to speak to us as a way of relationship. Inexperience Samuel was certainly inexperienced in hearing the voice of God. The Word teaches us that “Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor had the word of the Lord yet been revealed to him.” (1 Samuel 3:7). Samuel needed a mentor in the voice of God. Much like trying to tune your ear to a different dialect or language, we need to tune our ears to the voice of God. It takes practice and it is always helpful to have a mentor. Don’t be discouraged by being inexperienced in hearing God’s voice, keep practicing. You may make mistakes and act upon something you think is the voice of God when it is not, but that is why we have mentors! Even the Experienced Find Listening a Little Mysterious As you read the account of God speaking to Samuel, you’ll find that it took Eli, a seasoned veteran in serving God, three times to discern that Samuel wasn’t hearing voices, but was hearing God’s voice. Maybe Eli’s being hard of hearing was due to his sin (I’m sure that is part of it), but also, hearing God’s voice is always an art, it is always a mystical experience. It seems right that we stay holy in our relationships to the Lord so that our ears are more tuned into the voice of God. Why would I want to have my hearing of God’s voice dulled by sin? It really makes no sense. So, even though hearing God’s voice can be mysterious, it is always better (and clearer) to be holy in our lives and stay repentant of sin so that the wax of sin can be cleaned out of our spiritual ears. Lord, I pray for myself and all who are reading this, to have their ears clean, and tuned into the voice of God. Lord, speak to us clearly through your Word, your people in our hearts so that we can follow you with gusto for our whole lives!