Are You Prepared if God Speaks?

     I just finished my study time in 1 Samuel chapter 3.  As I prepare to lead my ladies in Bible study through the amazing events in Samuel’s life, there are some things that really stuck out to me. 1 Samuel 3 says: The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.   First, Samuel would seem like the least likely choice, given the fact that Eli, the priest was just in the other room. I am often reminded, especially in these last days that we should not expect for Christ to speak through only the well-known or most experienced. The Lord does not even base His decision to speak on our age or what position we hold. But it does remind us that Christ will choose to speak to those who have a willing and obeident heart. I was reminded of a pastor I once knew, who when I approached him to have a conversation on a matter replied back to me, “Who are you, a lay person, to come to me a God-ordained man to say this?”  For the longest time I pondered that question, overlooking his own pride and wondering just who was I that God would speak to me. I am nothing special. Just an ordinary, unschooled women who loves Jesus Christ with all her heart. A women who is willing to lay aside her own opinions and understandings and hear what the Lord wants to speak on the matter. A women who is willing to lose every friendship if it means choosing that friendship based on a worldly lie or the truth of Christ. But as I began to study today, I was reminded that the Lord is only looking for that heart that is willing to trust Him like a child, just as Samuel was so He can speak to them.

     Secondly, I noticed that the scripture said that the word of the Lord was rare.  Oh, how I can relate to that in these apostate days.  There is a famine for the truth of God’s Word.  No doubt there is plenty of places to go for the twisted word that will make you feel so good about yourself. The worship that leaves you feeling like you just left a concert and you can’t wait to come back for more. The sermons that are more like a visit to a comedy club or self-help seminar than a revival or “ouch” that stings, want to run from the truth, type sermon. How I hunger for the Word of the Lord to truly be spoken in these last days. How I long for the men who would position themselves to hear from God. The ones who would lay aside their own pride, the underlying motives for numbers and fear for their salary, the ” I hold only to” teachings and opinions of someone in their seminary or the well-known pastor or next best author. I pray they would truly lay all those things aside and earnestly desire to hear God’s voice no matter what it cost them.

Finally, I was reminded that even though Eli had spent his entire life in service to God, He neglected to do the most important thing. To put God and His desires first, no matter what it cost him.  Knowing that God bypassed Eli and went straight to a child, really lead me to wonder what it was exactly that Eli had done to so offend God. I had to look no further that 1 Samuel 3:13 to find out. The word of the Lord says: For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons made themselves contemptible, and he failed to restrain them.    Interestingly enough, just prior in chapter 2 verse 22-25 it says that Eli rebuked his son’s but they failed to listen to him.  So then the problem  was never that Eli ignored what they did without confronting them. The sin was in honoring and choosing his son’s over the Lord. He allowed them to continue in their sins even after they ignored his rebuke. He began to ignore the sins of his son’s, even though what they were doing in the house of the Lord was dishonoring.  By choosing to tolerate others sins, no matter how much we love them, shows that they are first in our lives. It also puts us, like Eli, in a position to not hear God speak. Sadly enough, just as with this pastor I encountered and many others of our times, the Lord will bypass the one in the other room and speak to the child who is willing to hear Him speak, no matter what it costs. Are you prepared to hear the Lord if He wants to speak to you today?