Listening to God
I Samuel 3:1-10
Charles Stanley in a sermon from Nehemiah once asked, “How is it that two people can sit in the same pew, hear the same sermon about the same portion of Scripture, and walk away with two different reactions? One is joyful and the other unaffected.” God is speaking to us through our worship, in the songs we sing, the Scriptures read and the message delivered. What you will walk away with today will be determined by how well you are listening to God.
I. There must be a willingness to listen to the voice of God
A. One must have a desire to listen to God.
B. Exodus 20:18-19 “Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. Then they said to Moses, "You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die."
C. Oswald Chambers – “Many don’t want to hear from God. They would rather listen to His servants than to Him
D. Psalm 81:11 “But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me.”
E. Many do not want to hear from God for they dread what He may have to say to them or what He may ask them to do.
F. Sin in one’s life will dampen the desire to hear from God.
G. e.g. – Adam & Eve after disobeying God hid from God. Sin broke the lines of communication between God and man.
H. John 8:47a “He who is of God hears God’s words...”
I. Authentic discipleship begins with a sincere willingness to listen to God.
J. Proverbs 2:1-5 “My son, if you receive my words, and treasure my commands within you, so that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding; yes, if you cry out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
K. In his book Directions, author James Hamilton shares this insight about listening to God: "Before refrigerators, people used icehouses to preserve their food. Icehouses had thick walls, no windows and a tightly fitted door. In winter, when streams and lakes were frozen, large blocks of ice were cut, hauled to the icehouses and covered with sawdust. Often the ice would last well into the summer. One man lost a valuable watch while working in an icehouse. He searched diligently for it, carefully raking through the sawdust, but didn't find it. His fellow workers also looked, but their efforts, too, proved futile. A small boy who heard about the fruitless search slipped into the icehouse during the noon hour and soon emerged with the watch. Amazed, the men asked him how he found it. I closed the door,'' the boy replied, "lay down in the sawdust, and kept very still. Soon I heard the watch ticking.'' The question is not whether God is speaking, but whether we are being still enough and quiet enough to hear. Are we setting aside the noise and clamor of the things of this life with the intense focus on listening for God to speak?
L. Indifference must give way to humble hearts with an eager desire to hear from God.
M. Do you really hunger to hear God speaking to you?
II. There must be openness and receptivity to the message of God
A. Consider Samuels response to God’s call, in 1 Samuel 3:10 “The Lord came, stood there, and called as before, "Samuel, Samuel!" Samuel responded, "Speak, for Your servant is listening."
B. Samuel positioned himself as a servant who listens attentively to the call of his master in order to know exactly his masters wishes, desires and commands. We’ve all heard the saying “Your wish is my command.” This is what Samuel was saying to the Lord.
C. Humility and readiness to listen to what God has to say opens up unlimited ways for you and me to be used by God.
D. When Saul of Tarsus met the resurrected Lord on the Damascus road, trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? (Acts 9:6)
E. I think of Old Jonah who heard the word of the Lord and did not like what he heard.
F. Jonah 1:1-3 “Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying , Arise , go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD “
G. Mark 4:23-24a “Anyone who is willing to hear should listen and understand! And be sure to pay attention to what you hear.”
H. King Saul is a prime example of those who hear but fail to pay attention to and listen to what God is saying.
I. 1 Samuel 15:20-24 “And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal. And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king. And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.”
J. Saul heard what God said but Saul didn’t listen to what God said.
K. How well are you listening to God?
III. There must be a readiness to obediently carry out the directive from God.
A. James 1:22 “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only…”
B. Again consider Samuels words, “Speak, for YOUR SERVANT is listening.”
C. Samuel was not just going to be a listener but was going to be a doer.
D. One definition of the word servant is: A person, male or female, that attends another for the purpose of performing menial offices for him, ot who is employed by another for such offices or for other labor, and is subject to his command. The word is correlative to master. Servant differs from slave, as the servant's subjection to a master is voluntary, the slave's is not. Every slave is a servant, but every servant is not a slave.
E. A heart ready to listen must be a heart ready to do what God says to do.
F. John 10:27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”
G. If you wait until you are ready to do what God says you will never do it God does not called the prepared – He prepares the called – Copied
H. This truth is illustrated in the lives of…
1. Mary – unimaginable that this young woman would bear the Messiah. But listen to what she said. ““Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” – Luke 1:38
2. Saul – impossible that a transformation could take place in the heart and life of this persecutor of Christianity. But we have the words he uttered upon hearing God in Acts 9:6 “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”
3. Noah – unheard of building a massive structure for a flood that would destroy all living creatures save those that were in the gopher wood ark. But Hebrews 11 tells us in verse 7 “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
I. All too often, we want to tell God what we want Him to do instead of listening to Him and then doing what He wants us to do.
J. Jeremiah 7:23-24 “But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.”
K. But Israel chose not to listen and the Bible states that they went backward not forward. Spiritual progress requires that we listen to God.
L. A young son of a missionary couple in Zaire was playing in the yard. Suddenly the voice of the boy's father rang out from the porch, "Philip, obey me instantly! Drop to your stomach!" Immediately the youngster did as his father commanded. "Now crawl toward me as fast as you can!" The boy obeyed. "Stand up and run to me!" Philip responded unquestioningly and ran to his father's arms. As the youngster turned to look at the tree by which he had been playing, he saw a large deadly snake hanging from one of the branches! His father's commands were not issued out of cruelty but for his well-being. God's commands to the Israelites were given for the same reasons. He wanted the absolute best for them. He assured them through the prophet Jeremiah that His purpose in requiring obedience from them was "that it may be well with you." His heartfelt intent for the people of Israel was that they might enjoy a loving relationship with Him and, at the same time, avoid the sin that was destroying the nations around them. (Woodrow Kroll)
M. Listening to God is vastly more important than we take it to be. God wants to direct your life as He desires what is truly best for you. He can only do that when we are listening to and obeying His Word.
N. James 1:24-25 “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
O. Have you committed yourself to doing whatever He says to you?
