The Voice Of The Lord Is Speaking To Us

"The boy Samuel ministered before The Lord under Eli ... One night Eli ... was lying down in his usual place ... and Samuel was lying down in the temple of The Lord, where the ark of God was. Then The Lord called Samuel. Samuel answered, "Here I am." And he ran to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me." But Eli said, "I did not call; go back and lie down." So he went and lay down. Again The Lord called, "Samuel!" And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me." "My son," Eli said, "I did not call; go back and lie down." Now Samuel did not yet know The Lord: The word of The Lord had not yet been revealed to him. The Lord called Samuel a third time, 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." 1 Samuel 3:1-10 (NIV)

Because he did not yet know The Lord, Samuel did not recognize the voice of The Lord. When you know The Lord, you know His voice. Jesus said My sheep know Me and know My voice. (John 10:4 & 14) When The Lord speaks to us, His voice is described as "a still small voice." (1 Kings 19:12) Multiple times throughout Deuteronomy the people were told to "hearken unto the voice of The Lord" but frequently they did not listen or obey.

Years ago, some cartoons would depict a character with a miniature devil standing on one shoulder whispering in one ear, and a miniature angel standing on the other shoulder whispering in the other ear. The cartoon character knew which was which, but frequently first listened to the devil and got in trouble before he listened to the angel. Most of us are just like that character, we hear the voice of The Lord, but we do not listen to it, or obey it.

We need to read our Bible more and listen to the voice of The Lord and obey it. We should respond as Isaiah did when he heard the voice of The Lord, "Here am I; send me." (Isaiah 6:8) The Lord is speaking to us, the question is are we listening to Him?