The Shepherd’s Voice (Called to obey or obeying the call Part 2)

This was a hard topic to write on a) because I’d said I would write it so it put more pressure on me, and, more importantly, b) because it’s an area of my life where I am by no means all clued up. If anything I have a tendency to err on the side of extreme caution. I’ve been in cultures where ‘God told me…’ is as common as phrase as ‘Good morning’ and where the idea that we might be wrong, and worse that our being wrong will cause significant problems, doesn’t cross our minds. So I’ve grown to be very careful in ever using that phrase. In fact I don’t ever use that phrase anymore. But am I right?

The story I’ve been reflecting on for this, from time to time anyway, is the story of Eli and Samuel. It’s in 1 Samuel 3. If anything it’s a story of a young boy learning to hear God’s voice, and so it’s perfect to try to understand how we too can learn to do it. In reflecting I have stumbled upon three aspects of God’s voice and how we can interact with it. The first is the nature of God’s voice, the second is our requirement in order to hear and understand it, and the third is a very real way of discerning God’s voice.

So first, the nature of God’s voice.

‘…the LORD called Samuel…then the LORD called yet again…and the LORD called Samuel again the third time’ (v4, 6, 8).

You know when a sales caller is on commission or being watched over because even if the person they are calling for is out, they’ll ask for when the person will be back in. They don’t leave a message or even give a number to call back, they insist on them calling back. There seems to be this cosmic battle, no hyperbole attached, going on between callers and ‘customers’. Callers invent new ways of making you stay on the phone while customers counter with new ways to make the caller give up. The best customer tactic I ever heard was ‘I’m afraid Mr. Smith passed away last week’ and then start crying. Genius. However, even the best sales callers would circumnavigate that by pausing and then saying, ‘I’m sorry to hear about your loss, is there anyone else I can speak to who might need some toner?’

Point is, yes I know it’s amazing that there was a point in there, that God is like the best ever sales caller! Not in that He’s very annoying and always calls at the worst moment, but in the sense that when He has a message to get through He won’t give up lightly. Young Samuel managed to dodge, albeit innocently and somewhat amusingly, God’s call THREE separate times. I mean the passage doesn’t elucidate the heavenly goings on here but I bet every time Samuel got up, put on his slippers and dressing gown (and yes Samuel blatantly wore those things) and ran to Eli’s room, God was banging His omniscient head on his heavenly table. But God kept coming back for more. He had chosen Samuel and Samuel was going to get the message whether it took Him all night or not.

This same pattern is found elsewhere. Moses, Gideon, Jonah. When God wants a message delivered or a job done, he picks a guy and makes sure he or she knows what is to be done. God’s true voice is clear and repetitive. If you hear something once and once only, chances are it wasn’t God. On the other hand, if you’ve got that nagging conviction in your life that you shouldn’t be doing that thing and it won’t go away, you may well have God banging his omniscient head. Or if you have a passion of serving the homeless, or the youth, or the poor, that you can’t get that passion out of your heart, it maybe well be a voice to listen to. And not only listen to it, but take it above those things you think are best to do, but really have no especial conviction or passion.

God’s true voice is clear and repetitive

So the second aspect of this passage in understanding God’s voice is found in verse 7.

‘(Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, nor was the word of the LORD yet revealed to him.)’

Samuel did not yet know the LORD.

Samuel had been living in the temple with Eli since he was young, which no doubt meant he had probably helped out a lot with setting up and helping with many priestly duties of Eli. 1 Samuel 2.18 says that Samuel was indeed heavily involved in priestly ministry in his service to the LORD. However, one chapter on from this activity he did not yet know the LORD. What does this mean? To me it means this: it takes time to get to know God and that simply doing things in the Church will not make that happen.

From time to time my friends will respond to something I’ve said or done and say to me ‘that’s not like you’. They know when messages I appear to be sending out are not really from who I am. They know that I don’t mean to say what they think I’ve just said. And they know that because they know me. They know me because they’ve spent time with me and I’ve told them about what I care about and what I don’t. They’ve seen what gets me going and what really doesn’t. They know what kinds of things I do and what things I don’t. Thankfully for us, God has allowed us to see all these things about Him too. Throughout the scripture God has continuously stressed His passion for people. He’s shown his hatred of evil. He’s actioned His compassion for the lost. He’s gotten angry at the pride of the Pharisees. It is only when we spend time in His Word, in prayer and with no desire but to be with Him that we can know the LORD.

Obviously Samuel was to go on to become a great Prophet for God. After all he would first anoint Saul as king and then be obedient to God’s spirit in skilfully selecting David as his altogether more successful successor. However we can see that Samuel did not always know God. In order for Samuel to move from this stage to becoming a great Prophet, two things had to happen. One God had to reveal himself to Samuel, and two Samuel had to learn to know God. Without either one, God’s voice would not be understood clearly.

It is only when we spend time in His Word, in prayer and with no desire but to be with Him that we can know the LORD.

So third we turn to how Samuel managed, in this instance to work out God’s voice. It took him four times to get it right, so what was it that he did?

‘And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. So he arose and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you did call me." Then Eli perceived that the LORD had called the boy.’ v8

The answer is that Samuel did…nothing. Samuel had no idea that it was God and for all we know if he had been left to this own senses he’d have been up and down all night and known nothing different. Indeed it took the intervention of an older and wiser person to realise what was going on. It took Eli to realise that it was indeed God who had been speaking to Samuel.

Now I’m quite impressed with Eli in this story. We’ve been told that Eli’s eyesight was failing him so chances are he was no spring chicken. So old man Eli is asleep and this is how I see the scenario unfolding…

Eli: ‘Good night young Samuel.’
Samuel: ‘Good night Eli old boy. Let me know if you need anything.’
Eli: ‘Will do.’

An indiscriminate passage of time

Samuel: ‘Eli, Eli! Did you call me? What do you need?’
Eli: ‘Oh no, I didn’t call you. Go back to bed’ Oh isn’t Samuel a good little chap. I’m so glad that the LORD enabled his medically barren mother to bear child and thus was so grateful to the LORD that she dedicated him to His service for his entire life. I would not be able to cope without him.

An indiscriminate passage of time

Samuel: ‘Eli Eli! You called again? Are you ok? Do you want me to put ointment on your damaged feet? Or maybe pour you some water?’
Eli: ‘Samuel Samuel my dear boy, I didn’t call you. And I really must sleep tonight; I have to do five services at church tomorrow. And the morning is family service. Those ones are always a nightmare. Kids crawling everywhere…’
Samuel: ‘Err…ok Eli. Sleep well.’
Eli: ah dear, I can’t keep up with the practical jokes of these young whippersnappers these days. I do hope tomorrow’s family service goes well…

An indiscriminate passage of time

Samuel: ‘Eli! I definitely heard you call, what is wrong?’
Eli: ‘Ok ok, this is a joke…that’s the third time you’ve come in here when I’m trying to sleep. I don’t know if you’ve been hanging out with my disobedient sons and drinking the ceremonial wine again but…wait a minute…you say you heard a call of your name?
Samuel: ‘Yes Eli, I’m sure of it. As sure as I’m standing before you in my Moses PJs’
Eli: ‘And you’ve heard it three times now…’
Samuel: ‘Fo sho’
Eli: Hmm…next time you hear the voice, answer ‘Speak, LORD, for Your servant hears’

Now obviously I’ve used some creative licence to bring the story to life there (and I’m sure Samuel didn’t speak Snoop Dogg) but I think Eli showed a remarkable patience to stick with Samuel and have the presence of mind to realise that, despite it being the middle of the night and that he’d been woken up twice already, it was in fact God who was speaking to Samuel. I’m pretty sure that’s not a perspective I would’ve kept had I been in Eli’s position. I think I would’ve gotten some gaffa tape and ensured Samuel got a good night’s sleep. That is one of the many reasons why I am not a temple priest. However the point is this: it took a person of great wisdom and understanding to enable Samuel to truly discern God’s voice in his life.

You see there was no problem in Samuel hearing from God. God was getting through to his senses. Samuel knew a message was coming in. The problem was in the deciphering of that message. The world we live in is full of messages. Everywhere we go we are bombarded with new messages. Messages about this product, or this way of life, or this activity, or this person. It’s not the messages that are the problem. It’s the discerning where each is coming from. If we want to effectively hear God’s voice then we need to know how to discern this and the story of Samuel’s calling clearly shows that there can be a key role of other people in this. For us it might be a church leader, or a close friend, or a parent. Someone who both knows you and, more importantly, knows God. Someone who knows when He might be speaking and what He might be saying.

If we want to effectively hear God’s voice then…the story of Samuel’s calling clearly shows…a key role of other people in this.

So there are my reflections on hearing the Shepherd’s voice. If we truly want to be able to know when God is speaking to us then we need to find the repeating message, know God and His character, and use those around us to help us discern what is really being said.

Last Sunday someone spoke at my Church on Jesus as the Good Shepherd. He told this story of a court of law where two men had laid claim to the same sheep and could not agree between them whose it belonged to. So in a sweep of Solomon-esque genius, the judge hatched a plan. She ordered the sheep to be placed some distance outside of the court room door. She then instructed both men to call out to the sheep and draw it to himself. So the first man called out but as all attending watched the door, no sheep appeared. Then the second man called out, and immediately the sheep recognised the distinctive sound of her master and walked into the court room and up her shepherd.

Whether we would say that we are so in-tune with Jesus’ voice to respond like this sheep I don’t know, but Jesus declared that ‘My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me’ (John 10.27) so the response of this one sheep is an example and a challenge to us all.