The Voice You Keep Almost Missing
Daily Scripture
1 Samuel 3:1-10
“Now the boy Samuel was serving the Lord under Eli. The Lord’s word was rare at that time; visions weren’t widely known. One day Eli, whose eyesight had grown so weak he was unable to see, was lying down in his room. God’s lamp hadn’t gone out yet, and Samuel was lying down in the Lord’s temple, where the chest containing the covenant with God was. The Lord called out to Samuel, and he answered, “I’m here.” Samuel ran to Eli and said, “I’m here. You called me?” “I didn’t call you,” Eli replied. “Go back to bed.” So, he did. Again, the Lord called Samuel, so Samuel got up, went to Eli, and said, “I’m here. You called me?” “I didn’t call, my son,” Eli replied. “Go back and lie down.” (Now Samuel didn’t yet know the Lord, and the Lord’s word hadn’t yet been revealed to him.) The Lord called Samuel still again, a third time. He got up, went to Eli, and said, “I’m here. You called me?” Then Eli realized that it was the Lord who was calling the boy. So, Eli said to Samuel, “Go and lie down. If he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord. Your servant is listening.'” So, Samuel went and lay down where he’d been. The Lord came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel, Samuel!” Samuel said, “Speak. Your servant is listening.”
Daily Reflection & Prayer
Three times, Samuel heard a prompting but didn’t yet understand the nature of this prompting. He heard something real enough to get up, rush out of bed, and still couldn’t name it, because he had no category yet for God speaking directly to him. One commentary notes, “In biblical Hebrew, the descriptor of [visions] as “rare/precious” is typically reserved for an item like jewelry, the idea of something extremely valuable due to pure lack of supply.”* The author of Samuel is looking back to the Book of Judges when the people of Israel were divided, not following closely after God. It took someone else’s experience, a mentor and guide, an older priest who’d heard that kind of call before, to recognize what the boy could not.
Samuel’s experience is closer to how people hear from God, more a subtle prompting than some dramatic stories suggest. A thought that won’t leave you alone. A pull you can’t fully explain. It rarely announces itself. It just repeats, patiently, until you’re willing to consider it might be more than what you first assumed. John Wesley, the eighteenth-century preacher who founded the Methodist movement, would say this is no accident. God rarely hands us the whole picture alone; God builds it into other people to help us see what we can’t see in ourselves.
- Is there something in your life right now you should be paying more attention to, a thought, a pull, a repeated nudge you’ve been too quick to explain away? What has kept you from taking it seriously so far?
- We all need mentors in our lives, people who’ve heard God’s voice before and can help us recognize it in our own. Is there someone you could have that conversation with this week? What’s stopped you from reaching out to them so far?
Prayer
Patient God, thank you for calling more than once, even when I mistake your voice for something smaller. Give me the humility to admit when I don’t yet understand what I’m hearing. Raise up people around me who can help me name it, and make me willing to do the same for someone else. Slow me down enough tonight to actually listen. Amen.
GPS Insights
Katy Nall
Katy serves as the Program Director of Missions for Resurrection West. She loves helping people connect their faith with action, planning adventures, and hearing a really great story! She and her husband, Drew, have two incredible kids and are foster parents and advocates. Whether she's leading a serve trip, reading her latest library find, hiking a trail, or cheering on her kids from the audience or sidelines, she's always looking for opportunities to learn, grow in her faith, and make a difference!
Last school year I had a couple of opportunities to volunteer in student ministry. I have always been pretty involved in my kid’s lives. I am always #1 room mom, team mom, party planning mom, snack bringing mom. I had no reservations about volunteering in Resurrection Kids for 7 wonderful years as my kids moved through it. But Student Ministry? Teenagers?
I don’t know their music. I don’t know the trends. I have absolutely no idea what is cool anymore, and I have pretty strong mom vibes at this point in my life. I also have a pretty limited tolerance for sixth grade boy shenanigans, and it turns out there are, in fact, a lot of sixth grade boy shenanigans. But, they needed mentors for the Meta retreat last fall, and my kids wanted me to be there. I have the feeling that won’t be true for many more years to come, so I signed up. What I discovered pretty quickly is that all the things I was worried about–didn’t really matter.
Students aren’t looking for adults who are cool. They’re looking for adults who show up. Adults who remember their names. Who ask how the thing they were worried about last week turned out. Who listen to their stories, laugh with them, take them seriously, and care about what’s happening in their lives. And yeah, if you have some snacks on you, that is probably a good idea, too!
These students ended up surprising me—probably a lot like Eli was surprised by Samuel. We usually read the story of Samuel and Eli and focus on what Eli gives Samuel. Samuel hears God calling but doesn’t understand what is happening. Eli has lived long enough and walked with God long enough to recognize something Samuel can’t yet recognize for himself.
Samuel needs Eli, no doubt. But I wonder if we sometimes miss the other half of the story. Eli also needs Samuel. God is speaking to the next generation, and Eli gets to witness it. Samuel is hearing something new. He is experiencing God in a way that even this older, experienced priest isn’t experiencing himself.
I’ve noticed that same thing in student ministry. Young people ask questions about faith that adults have sometimes stopped asking. They notice things in Scripture I skim right past. They haven’t necessarily learned all the categories we use to decide which questions are appropriate or which possibilities are realistic. There is an openness there that I find myself wanting more of.
Yes, there is also chaos. And noise. And an inexplicable desire to spray Axe body spray at each other. But right in the middle of all of that are young people learning to recognize the voice of God. They need adults willing to be Eli—to show up, listen, encourage them, and occasionally help them name what they’re experiencing. Maybe part of listening for God is staying close enough to the next generation to hear what God might be saying through them. Good news–you don’t have to be cool to do that.
Thank goodness!
