The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen!

Loving and gracious God, you call to people of all ages and places. Open our ears to your voice, and give us the will and wisdom to follow you.

Dear congregation, dear friends,

God calls Samuel and why do I have so many difficulties in listening to God.

It must have been already a little bit late in the night, and the young boy, Samuel, was ministering to the Lord under Eli. The word of God was rare in those days and people didn’t have visions very often anymore, as it used to happen to the people of Israel in the past. Of course, we cannot take God’s speaking, as it is written in the Old Testament, literally into our lives today. But, anyway, I would like to go through this text with you, so that we, together, can have some thoughts about our relationship to Jesus Christ.

This text from 1.Samuel 3 shows us always again that God wants to have contact to us, and, that he wants to show us His way for our life.

The decisive question for us today, is: Do we feel the need that God shows us his way and his will? Or is it so, that for us it is OK, or, at least it doesn’t matter to us, as long as we can live our life the way we figured it out for ourselves?

If we put all our hope in God, then we can count on his intervention.

In our today’s text from the first book of Samuel its about the attitude: Are we willing to listen to God’s call? Or are we deaf? Or do we pretend to be deaf? How is it with us?

Sometimes we also ask ourselves: Why doesn’t God speak more clearly? What is the reason why we perceive God’s talk very rarely? There could be different reasons for that:

It could be, that we are the problem. And in this regard I would like to tell you a short story:

A certain husband noticed that his wife had hearing problems. So, he wanted, through a test, show her that she needed a hearing aid. He asked her to stay at a distance of about 10 meters. He turned then his back to her and asked her: “How much is 3x5?” But she didn’t answer as expected. He repeated the question and went closer to her. Again, no answer! And the next time he was already very close to her. He asked again: “How much is 3x5?” And now she answered: “I already told you three times that it is 15, but you don’t hear anything”.

Now, who is hard of hearing? God? Or, are we? If we don’t get an answer from God, it very easily could be, that we are simply too busy in order to notice his voice.

How does the story with Samuel continue, and what could we learn from that?

Eli was an old man and he had problems with his eyesight. Probably it was already after midnight, because in our text it is written that the lamp of God had not yet gone out. In this night Eli and Samuel were soundly asleep and resting from their work in the temple.

And what happened next?

- Samuel heard in his sleep a voice calling his name. Samuel, very committed to his work in the temple, went to Eli, his boss, and asked him what he wanted. But Eli only tells him that he didn’t call him and asks Samuel to go to sleep again. And Samuel obeys.

Let us just imagine the following: Suddenly, in the middle of the night we wake with a start and think, that our wife husband, or our parents called us. We rub our eyes and at the end we realize that it wasn’t true. Certainly this kind of thing happened already to all of us, that we had to realize that it was only a dream.

- The same story repeats again. God calls Samuel when he sleeps. Samuel goes to Eli, because he thinks that the old man had called him. Eli said that he didn’t call him and told Samuel to go and lie down again. And Samuel did as Eli asked him.

I have to ask again: When was it the last time that I, and you, dear congregation, took extensively time to listen, in prayer and silence, to God’s speaking?

We are to ask for God’s will, and not only when we are facing difficult decisions, or when we don’t know what else to do! No! God doesn’t want to be the fire alarm which is used in case of an emergency! No, he wants to talk to us, even if everything is upside down in our life. And here I have to ask again: Do I even give him the opportunity?

We have to give God the opportunity to reveal his will when we are praying, reading the bible, and in stillness.

God called Samuel for the third time during this same night. And Eli, this very experienced priest, realizes that there is something going on: It was God who called Samuel now for the third time! God doesn’t give me and you up. He called Samuel three times, until somebody realized that God wanted to say something.

If we are really willing to listen, to serve, then something will really happen. I am very sure about that. It doesn’t necessarily turns out as we imagine it, and also not at the time when we want it or count on it. Who knows what is going to happen this night? It could be, that the Almighty speaks to you through a dream!! God doesn’t sleep and his Spirit blows where it wishes. Yes, if God wishes so, then he will call me by my name – not only once! If necessary, he will call me twice or three times – until we understand the connections, and we finally realize that all this cannot be a coincidence. How many times did God call for you?

Everyone of us, and the bible says it very clearly, has to stand before God and respond for everything he has done or for what he has left undone.

Changes in our society, or even in our congregations, are only possible if everyone checks himself and his position before God, copes with him, and is willing and open to changes.

Please, never shut your ears, and neither your heart when God calls you! Neither when he calls you to follow him and knocks on your heart and wants you to have a life with him. Even, if you live already for many years with Jesus in your heart, and he intends to do something with you; something that you have no idea of, or cannot imagine.

Only, if we as Christians listen to Jesus and give his will the highest priority in our life, then we can be good witnesses for our surroundings. Only then, God will be able to make changes in each of us, changes that will make us be closer to him.

Be prepared and listen with the same attitude as Samuel at those times: „Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.“ AMEN!

- P. Sigmar Reichel