{"id":27984,"date":"2021-12-24T00:00:27","date_gmt":"2021-12-24T07:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baonline.cog7engage.net\/?p=27984"},"modified":"2023-08-29T11:33:01","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T17:33:01","slug":"how-to-hear-from-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baonline.cog7engage.net\/how-to-hear-from-god\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Hear from God"},"content":{"rendered":"
Wouldn\u2019t it be nice to hear from God?<\/p>\n
For students who are struggling to choose a school, a major, a career; for sweethearts contemplating marriage; for a parent who\u2019s worried sick for a child; for an entrepreneur considering a new risk; for nearly anyone who is hurting, floundering, or fearing, it would be so nice to hear from God and gain His perspective, His direction.<\/p>\n
Happily, a story in the Bible may offer guidance for anyone hoping to hear from God in matters both large and small.<\/p>\n
In the early days of Israel\u2019s history, God\u2019s people had hit a rough patch. It seemed to them that God had gone silent. Rarely did anyone hope or claim to hear from God. But there was a young boy named Samuel who lived in the Jerusalem temple and helped the priest, Eli, in his work.<\/p>\n
One night Samuel heard a voice calling him. He reported to Eli, but the priest said he hadn\u2019t called. After this happened two more times, Eli told Samuel, \u201cGo and lie down, and if he calls you, say, \u2018Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening\u2019\u201d (1 Samuel 3:9).<\/p>\n
Samuel went back to bed, heard the voice again, and answered as Eli had told him. The Lord spoke and gave the boy a specific, detailed message, which he eventually related to Eli. That story, told in 1 Samuel 3, may suggest seven things to the person who wants to learn to hear God\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n
I remember being asked to see a person, and I thought that he wanted to learn something from me; but when I saw him for three-quarters of an hour, he spoke the whole time, and afterwards he told a friend that I was a most delightful person to converse with! When I was told that, I said, \u201cOh, yes, that was because I did not interrupt the man! He was wound up, and I let him run down.\u201d<\/p>\n
God is a gentleman. He doesn\u2019t like to interrupt, so He seldom speaks unless we are listening.<\/p>\n
\u201cSee, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle. At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family \u2014 from beginning to end. 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. Therefore, I swore to the house of Eli, \u2018The guilt of Eli\u2019s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering\u2019\u201d (1 Samuel 3:11-14).<\/p>\n
Samuel was unenthusiastic about relaying the message. But he did. If you want to hear from God, you must be prepared for the possibility that He might say something that doesn\u2019t align with your thoughts or preferences. He may reveal things you didn\u2019t want to know. But if you aren\u2019t prepared to act on what God says, either way, you\u2019re probably not ready to hear from God.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s probably a big part of why God spoke to Samuel in the first place, and not to Eli. To quote Spurgeon again:<\/p>\n
One may be a child of God, like Eli, and yet so live that God will not speak with him; and, on the other hand, one may be a child like Samuel, obedient, beautiful in character, and watchful to know God\u2019s will, praying, \u201cSpeak, Lord; for thy servant heareth;\u201d and then God will speak to you.<\/p>\n
If you intend to hear God\u2019s voice and then decide whether or not you will heed it, you\u2019re not likely to hear God\u2019s voice. Hearing is always for heeding.<\/p>\n
Jesus said, \u201cMy sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me\u201d (John 10:27). If God has said something to you \u2014 urging you to repentance, perhaps, or to surrender or obedience in some area \u2014 and you are still saying, \u201cNot yet. . . . Not me. . . . Not that,\u201d then it\u2019s unlikely He\u2019ll say anything new to you until you follow Him in whatever it is.<\/p>\n
To those who follow God, however, He will make Himself \u2014 and His directions \u2014 known, especially as we learn to make Samuel\u2019s words our prayer: \u201cSpeak, Lord, for Your servant is listening.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wouldn\u2019t it be nice to hear from God? For students who are struggling to choose a school, a major, a career; for sweethearts contemplating marriage; for a parent who\u2019s worried sick for a child; for an entrepreneur considering a new risk; for nearly anyone who is hurting, floundering, or fearing, it would be so nice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":311,"featured_media":27985,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37,1956],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n