Speak, Lord

January 14, 2024 homily on 1 Samuel 3:1-10 by Pastor Galen

Speak Lord, Your Servant is Listening

Samuel grew up in church. I don’t just mean that he grew up attending church. I mean that he grew up quite literally in the church building. Before he was born, his mother longed for many years to have a child, until she finally reached a point of desperation, and cried out to God, promising that if God would give her a son, she would dedicate her child to the Lord, to serve God in the temple for his whole life.

Sure enough, God gave her a son, whom she named Samuel (which means “God has heard”). And, when he was still a young child, she brought him to the temple to serve the Lord, where he was raised by Eli the priest.

And so Samuel quite literally grew up in church. He knew every nook and cranny of the temple. He knew where the spare candle sticks were stored, and which altar linens to put on the tables at which times of the year. And he probably knew where all the best secret hiding spots were, and most likely he hid there quite frequently when trying to get out of doing his chores around the temple.

What Samuel didn’t know, however, was how to recognize and discern the voice of God. It wasn’t necessarily his fault, however, since 1 Samuel chapter 3 tells us that “The word of the LORD was rare in those days; [and] visions were not widespread” (1 Sam. 3:1b).

But one night, when Samuel was alone in the temple, Samuel heard the voice of God. But he didn’t know it at first. 

Eli had already gone to his room for the night, leaving Samuel to lock the doors and make sure that the lamps in the temple went out before he went to sleep. I imagine Samuel sitting there in the front of the temple, watching the flames in the lamps die out. He started to get a bit drowsy and so he stretched out and fell asleep on the cot set up just for that purpose near the area where the Ark of the Covenant, the most sacred object in Israelite worship, was housed. 

Suddenly, Samuel was awakened by the sound of someone calling his name. “Samuel. Samuel!” Assuming it was Eli, Samuel jumped up and ran to the priest, saying, “Here I am, Eli!”

Eli answered, “I didn’t call you. You must have been dreaming! Go back to sleep.” Samuel went back to his cot and lay down, and sure enough he heard the voice calling him again. He ran to Eli, convinced once again that it must be Eli calling him, but Eli just shook his head and again told him to go back to sleep. 

When Samuel heard the voice calling his name a third time, Eli realized that God must be speaking to Samuel. He sent Samuel back to bed with instructions to say “’Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’ So Samuel went and lay down in his place” (1 Sam. 3:9). And the Bible says that “the LORD came and stood there, calling as before, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ And Samuel said, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening’” (1 Sam. 3:10). 

Eli knew better than to try to guess what God might want to say to Samuel. And so he gave Samuel the tools to hear from God for himself. He taught Samuel to be open to whatever it was that God wanted to tell him. 

Indeed, the message that God asked Samuel to deliver was a rather difficult word for Eli and the people to hear, because it was a word of rebuke and correction, but Samuel delivered it faithfully. This event proved to be a pivotal moment in Samuel’s life. Samuel went on to become one of the greatest prophets in Israel — a prophet who consistently heard from and proclaimed the words of God to the people. 

Without this experience of hearing from God, Samuel probably would have grown up going through the motions. Offering the sacrifices that needed to be offered, doing all the good religious things that he was supposed to do. But because Eli taught him how to hear and discern the voice of God, he became a powerful leader and prophet, who helped others hear and experience God for themselves.

Learning to Hear and Discern the Voice of God

I love this story about God speaking to Samuel, because there is a message here for all of us. For the young people here today, it’s a reminder that you are never too young to listen for and hear the voice of God. Indeed, the greatest thing you can do in this life is to learn how to hear and discern God’s voice, and to respond to God’s call on your life. Sometimes the call that God has for you may not seem very exciting, while other times it may feel overwhelming. But whatever it is, know that God will give you what you need to do what God has called you to do.

For those of us who are older, one of the greatest things we can do for our children and grandchildren or anyone under our care is to help them hear and discern the voice of God. 

For some, this involves formally instructing them in the way of the Lord, as in the case of parents and grandparents and Sunday School teachers and youth leaders. 

Instructing children to hear and discern God’s voice doesn’t just mean passing on our own interpretation of Scripture or the Bible, but rather it involves giving young people the tools to read and discern God’s Word for themselves. It means teaching them not only how to talk to God in prayer, but also how to listen for and discern God’s voice speaking to them.

Whether you’re a parent or grandparent or Sunday School teacher, all of us can have a role in helping young people hear and discern God’s voice, by setting an example for them of humility and openness to the prompting of God’s Spirit. 

Sometimes we rely too heavily on what God has spoken to us in the past, but we need to seek a fresh word from God for us today, at whatever stage of life we are in. And sometimes, as in the case of the prophet Eli, that might involve us older people getting out of the way, and being open to what God may want to say to us through our young people. 

The Life and Legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Tomorrow is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, when we celebrate the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. What many people often forget is that Martin Luther King was not a politician or even just a political activist, but rather he was first and foremost a pastor. 

Martin Luther King’s father was a pastor as well, and so as a young person who quite literally grew up in church (like Sameuel), Martin Luther King learned to hear and discern the voice of God at a young age. And this was further honed in seminary, where he dove deeply into the Word. (By the way, Dr. King’s doctorate degree was not an honorary doctorate, but rather a Ph.D. in systematic theology from Boston University, a Methodist institution!) 

Martin Luther King Jr.’s leadership in the Civil Rights Movement was born out of his pastoral heart and concern for the people he was leading, and his conviction that all people are made in the image of God and deserve to be treated as equals, and he continued serving as a pastor right up until he was assassinated.

And it wasn’t just Martin Luther King, Jr. who was motivated by his faith. Many of the people who participated in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s were deeply devout followers of Christ who heard the call of God on their lives and responded, even though they knew it could be dangerous to do so. And many of those who participated were young people.

Getting Out of the Way

One such person was Freeman Hrabowski III, who recently retired as the President of UMBC, the university where my wife and I attended. As a child, Freeman Hrabowski was one of the children who was arrested and jailed with Martin Luther King, Jr. during the peaceful non-violent Children’s Crusade in May of 1963. 

The night before the peaceful march, Freeman Hrabowski had announced to his parents that God was calling him to participate, and that there was a chance that he would be arrested. Hrabowski says that his parents immediately said what every parent of a 13-year-old boy should say when the boy is about to do something that might land him in jail: they said “No!”

But the next morning, Hrabowski said that his parents came to him, and told him that they had stayed up all night praying. They told him, “If this is what God is calling you to do, we will not get in the way of that.” Sure enough, Hrabowski was jailed for protesting peacefully. But that experience of listening to and discerning and obeying the call of God was to be a defining moment in Hrabowski’s life, who became a well-known advocate for equality in education throughout his tenure as a university president.

Speak, Lord, Your Servants Are Listening

As in the case of the boy Samuel and the teenage Freeman Hrabowski, sometimes the word that God may want to speak may be a word that is difficult for us older people to hear. Sometimes those of us who are older get certain ideas stuck in our heads about the right and wrong way to do things that in the end might not really matter. Sometimes it’s the young people in our midst who are more open to hearing God’s voice. 

And so, no matter what age or stage of life we are in, know that God can and often does speak to each and every one of us. And so may we, like Samuel and Freeman Hrabowski, learn to hear and discern the voice of God. And may we, like Eli and Hrabowski’s parents, teach those under our care to hear and discern God’s voice, and may we learn when we need to get out of the way and even listen to what God may want to say through them. 

God is still speaking to people today. May we learn to discern and discern the voice of God. And may we say, along with Samuel, “Speak, Lord, your servants are listening.”

Amen!