Speak Lord!

The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue,

to know the word that sustains the weary.

He wakens me morning by morning,

wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.

Isaiah 50:4

When Samuel was a boy the Lord called his name one night. At first Samuel thought Eli was calling and so he ran to see what Eli wanted. Three times Samuel heard the call of God and thought it came from Eli. Then Eli told Samuel how to respond to the call of God. He told the boy to say “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.”

How many times has God called your name and yet you ran to someone else thinking the call came from another and not from God? If I am honest, I must confess that I must have heard the voice of God calling my name many times over the years without recognizing that it was Him. It was only when Samuel acknowledged that God was calling that he was able to hear the message God had for Him that night.

When God calls your name it is because He has something He wants to say. But His message goes unspoken until you acknowledge Him and let Him know you are listening.

The story of the two airplane pilots who became so distracted in the cockpit that they overflew their destination by 150 miles and ignored many attempts to contact them is a good example of what can happen to me as a follower of Jesus. If Satan can distract me to the point that I don’t know where I am in life and I don’t hear the call of God to give me daily corrections in my course then I am rendered useless.

So when the voice of the Lord wakes you from sleep don’t run to Eli and ask what he wants. When the voice of the Lord wakes you say like Samuel did “speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.”

You will be amazed by what you hear God say!