A third time the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”
Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
I Samuel 3:8-10
—
7 words. Just 7.
Simple to utter, attractive to say, filled with promise and opportunity and life.
“Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”
These seven words result in life and spiritual blessing to all followers of Christ—whether just starting or coming to the end.
And yet, in today’s world, they are among the hardest to live out.
Our world is filled with noise: radio, television, podcasts, social media. Information swirls around us 24 hours/day: news, advertisements, analysis of the day’s happenings, celebrity gossip, athletic competitions. Gossip, idle chatter, and conversations of meaningless things fill our days and ears.
In most cases, we invite in the noise. Silence is difficult for the modern mind to stomach. So we turn on the radio in our car, we turn on the television in our homes, we turn to our phones or computers during any moment of stillness.
But we cannot both speak the words of the great prophet Samuel and fill our lives with noise at the same time. We must choose to silence the noise of this world to hear clearly the words of God.
“Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”
The greatest men and women of faith regularly withdrew from human noise and human conversation to meet alone with God: Samuel, Moses, Noah, Jesus, Thomas a’ Kempis, Saint Teresa of Avila, C.S. Lewis… just to name a few. We must do the same.
We have received an invitation. Just as God called out to Samuel many years ago, He calls out to you and to me.
He invites us to listen—to withdraw from this temporal noise—to hear the voice of the eternal Creator. Will we respond as Samuel did, “Speak for your servant is listening?”
And will you cultivate silence, stillness, and solitude to give Him opportunity to do so?
—
Prayer
Heavenly Father, here I am in the stillness, listening to you and only you. Help me to take time in each of my days to spend time with you. Silence the world around me so that I may hear what really matters. Amen.