How To Hear From God
Read Time: 8 mins
Then the Lord came and stood nearby, calling as he had previously done, “Samuel! Samuel!” Samuel replied, “Speak, for your servant is listening!”
1 Samuel 3:10 NET
Have you ever craved a word from God? Maybe you needed comfort, clarity, or direction? Maybe you needed answers, wisdom, or simple reassurance. Regardless of what you needed specifically, you knew you needed God to show up. You needed God to speak.
It’s one thing to need God, but it’s another thing to feel like you can’t get through to Him. I can imagine this is how people felt in the third chapter of First Samuel when the Bible says that words from the Lord were rare and visions were infrequent. The Hebrew text argues that in those days, revelation, dreams, or a sight of the Lord were seemingly unable to break through or spread. Have you ever felt like your prayers have been being restricted or redirected before they even get a chance to reach the ceiling?
It’s in this context of rarity of revelation that God speaks to a young boy named Samuel. And I believe that by learning from his story, a story when God chooses to speak to and through the least of us, we may better learn how we, too, can hear from God in times when His word in our world seems scarce.
Prioritize Your Posture
The first thing we notice about Samuel in the text is his posture. God chooses to speak to Samuel when he is committed to submission and service. The Bible says that Samuel ministered to the Lord, a God he hadn’t yet heard from, by ministering to Eli. A humble and dedicated posture of service is often the prerequisite to prophetic revelation. Remember, it was a commitment to success in service that set Joseph up to interpret dreams. Service shows the willing heart that often puts you in a position for God to speak, and that service to God may be seen through our service to others. God says that the way we treat the least of these is the way we treat Him. The way you treat the poor, hungry, incarcerated, depressed, confused, hur,t and abused is the way you treat God. You love God by loving His children the way He loved you.
And this brings up a good point because it’s not just about service, it’s about submission. Samuel is spending his time serving as a primary caregiver to a blind priest who can’t raise his kids well or even hear from God. Can you serve someone you may not have all the reasons to respect? Let me put it like this: can you submit to a leader you have more vision than? Real service is pouring into people who don’t deserve it and really can’t give you much in return, as if you were serving God Himself. And this sacrificial, others-centered service is what led to Samuel hearing from God.
Remember, he got out of bed in the first place because he thought Eli was calling Him. He didn’t just get up once; he got up twice to serve Eli in the middle of the night before Eli told him that it may be God speaking. Maybe we aren’t hearing from God because we won’t break our routine to serve. Would you get out of bed to help someone who can’t help you? Some of the best opportunities I’ve gotten came because I served in ways that shouldn’t have paid me anything. Maybe a commitment and willingness to serve is what you’re missing.
Prioritize Proximity
The next thing we can point out is Samuel’s position. The text doesn’t just point out the posture of Samuel’s heart; it indicates his proximity to the presence of God. The Bible makes it clear that Samuel slept where the Ark of God was. This isn’t to say Samuel slept in the Holy of Holies or directly by the Ark, but this detail does point out that Samuel heard God where God was. So here’s my question for you: Are you committed to being near the places, people, postures, and practices where God resides?
In those days, the Ark of the Covenant represented the presence of God. Now, He shows up in His people, their praises, and the practices He ordained for them. It doesn’t make sense to crave a word from God while hanging out with ungodly people who can’t give you one or point you to the Go who can. It doesn’t make sense to ask for a word of God but fill your mind with things that are far from Him. It doesn’t make sense to desire intimacy and nearness with God while clinging to the sins that create distance between us and Him.
It goes without saying, but if you want to hear from God, you have to make space for Him to speak. You have to find yourself resting in the presence of God like Samuel did. You have to be used to abiding in a sanctified space.
Stop filling your space with things and people, practices and places that are far from Him. Instead, fill your mind, time, and space with things that point you back to Him. Isaiah 59 says that our sins have separated, alienated, or caused a split between us and God. While He desires intimacy with us, as Psalm 66 argues, harbored sins stop us from connecting as we’d like. You can’t keep holding on to darkness while asking light to take over. You cannot ask for peace while remaining committed to what’s bringing you pain.
Ask the Holy Spirit to give you the power and practical plan to separate from the things that separate you from God. It doesn’t make sense to ask God to bring clarity to your relationship while holding on to the practices, people, and mindsets He already told you would bring confusion. It doesn’t make sense to ask Him to speak while filling your space with people, practices, and ideas that are far from Him. It doesn’t make sense to ask Him to cleanse your mind while remaining committed to and complacent in practices He told you were distractions that lead to your detriment. If you want God to speak, prioritize Him, His presence, and the practices He outlined. Spend time in prayer. Fast. Go to church. Serve. Study His word for yourself, and build the muscle of obedience. Let Him renew your mind without you going back to add more junk to the space He is trying to clean. But don’t just listen for His voice, be prepared to act on it.
Practice the Prophetic
Samuel served and submitted as if He was serving God, and He committed to proximity with God in His life, but what I also want you to recognize is that He wasn’t just a hearer of the word. He was a doer of it. He wasn’t just willing to acknowledge it; he was willing to act on it. He wasn’t just willing to serve and submit; he was willing to speak. The purpose of being spoken to by God is for action to take place moving forward.
Catch what happens here. God gives Samuel a prophetic word about Eli. The word is confirmation of what was said in the chapter before about the judgment Eli and his sons would face because of their sin. And the Bible says that while Samuel was afraid, he told Eli everything and didn’t hold back. My question for us here is whether or not we’d be bold enough to speak what God has spoken to us.
Many of us assume prophecy is just telling the future, but it’s often seen in a boldness to speak truth to power. It’s a willingness to speak the word and will of God when it’s unpopular. It's about having the bravery and the preparation to speak what’s been spoken to you in season and out of season. It’s often seen in the use of creative and tactful ways of communicating correction for the purpose of redemption and relationship.
This story reminds me a lot of the story of Nathan and David. Remember, David steals his soldier's wife, uses his power over her to sleep with her, and then kills her innocent husband in an effort to cover up his sin. It’s crazy. But Nathan walks into the king's office and relays a parable to help David see the error in his ways and repent or turn back to God. Can you see how that could’ve easily not been a comfortable conversation? But just like God aided the giving of understanding and acceptance to David, He brought acceptance and understanding to Eli.
Hearing from God requires a willingness to speak for Him. It may be uncomfortable, but obedience will stretch your faith and show you a new view of God. It wasn’t easy for Jeremiah to confirm captivity or for Samuel to tell Saul that God had chosen another. It probably wasn’t fun for Hosea to marry Gomer or for Elijah to be on a royal hit list. But it’s worth it. If you want God to speak, you have to be ok with what He says.
I’m calling you to commit to service, submission, proximity, and pursuit so that when God speaks, you will follow. The Bible says that in the last days, God would pour out His Spirit on all flesh, and sons, daughters, men, and women would prophesy. You are in that number. While we don't all have the same gifts and may not fulfill the prophetic role like someone like Elijah or Samuel, we're too called to let our lights shine and speak on behalf of God. You aren’t called to simply receive the Holy Spirit and be done. You’re called to prophesy because of what’s in you. So speak. I understand your fears or apprehensions, but I don’t believe they should hold you back.
Look what God and Jeremiah’s conversation about Jeremiah’s call to prophecy was like:
“Before I formed you in your mother’s womb I chose you. Before you were born I set you apart. I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.” I answered, “Oh, Lord God, I really do not know how to speak well enough for that, for I am too young.” The Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ But go to whomever I send you and say whatever I tell you. Do not be afraid of those to whom I send you, for I will be with you to protect you,” says the Lord. Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I will most assuredly give you the words you are to speak for me. Know for certain that I hereby give you the authority to announce to nations and kingdoms that they will be uprooted and torn down, destroyed and demolished, rebuilt and firmly planted.”
Jeremiah 1:5-10 NET
It’s normal to be afraid, but God is with you. You aren’t too young or inexperienced. You are appointed and prepared. He will give you the words and authority.
Revelation 19:10 reminds us that the testimony or story of Jesus is the spirit, essence, or driving force behind prophecy. Prophecy at its core is lifting up Jesus, His story, and His saving power. So speak on Jesus. Tell what He did for you. Explain why life with Him is better. Talk about what He means to you and why you’d recommend Him. Talk about why He is good. Live it out as a billboard. Be intentional about your influence and let your light shine before men so that they’ll see Jesus through you. Don’t just hear from God, speak, and live for Him!
So now I charge you to follow Samuel. Ask God to speak and be a servant who will truly listen.
End this reading with some time in prayer, not necessarily telling God what you want from Him, but asking Him what He wants from you.
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