Listening to God

Listening to God

[I Samuel 3:1-11]


I was sitting before the Lord in prayer in my office asking for direction about an upcoming board meeting I was having for No Compromise Ministries in Lufkin, TX. I wanted a detailed agenda for the board meeting to maximize our time together. As I was sitting before the Lord, He spoke. Not audibly. Not loudly. Yet, His voice was unmistakably clear and the message was easy to understand. He simply said, “Go to East Texas and listen.”
The looks on the board of directors faces at the board meeting were somewhat puzzled when I asked them if the Lord was giving any of them a word or message to speak. I sat back and listened. At first, there were awkward glances and deafening silence. This lasted for well over a minute with no one speaking until one lady spoke up and said, “Matt, this really does not apply so much to No Compromise Ministries but the Lord is telling me to tell you, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer.”
The word was startling as I remembered three years ago God giving me that exact same message. “My house shall be called a house of prayer.”[Is 56:7] The meeting continued but before we broke up to leave that lady reiterated that message to me, “My house shall be called a house of prayer.”
It was a real delight to get to spend that night in my favorite prayer retreat cabin located outside of Palestine, TX. I have made pilgrimage to this cabin for prayer and writing retreats (see my message on Sanctuary with God to see how special this place has been in my spiritual journey) for the past ten years. Normally, I spend anywhere to three to five days soaking up the presence of God. On this trip, I only had the late night and until lunch the next morning to bask in the presence of the Lord in that prayer haven before I had to drive back to Paradise.
I went to bed late Thursday night after the board meeting exhausted from the near six hours of driving I had done that day. I awoke refreshed the next morning and eager to have some time with the Lord in my private cabin refuge (actually it is not my cabin but a friend of mine manages the retreat and ranch and allows me access to it from time to time with his boss’ approval.)
I read scripture from the book of Acts and was just starting my prayer time when again I heard the voice of the Lord. Now at this point, many of you might begin to think that I am being mystical saying I heard the voice of the Lord. If you have never heard Him speak to you privately, I will have a hard time explaining what I am talking about. Suffice it to say His voice was not audible but a deep impression in my spirit. From this point on I will just say the Lord spoke to me. His message to me was, “When I told you to listen I was not just talking about the board meeting. I have some things I want to speak to you.”
Pause in the story. I don’t know about you but I can’t say I normally do a very good job of getting into God’s presence and listening. I am usually mumbling on with all my requests and desires and by the time I have laid them at His feet, I’m either too tired to listen or in too big a hurry to move on to the next item on my daily agenda.
I think most of us fall into that same category as well. Each of us would say we believe that the Lord continues to speak to us, yet when was the last time you lingered in the audience of God just to listen? It requires great mental discipline to sit still and take note of whatever message the Lord wants to communicate. That’s what is so exciting, though. The God of this universe desires to speak to you personally about your future, about His love, and about His will. That’s one of the things that continually motivates me to read the word of God. I believe He has specific messages for me in those readings. I also believe that He does and desires to speak to us through the voice of the Holy Spirit. This has been unsettling to me over the years because many many times I thought I had a clear word from the Lord through the Holy Spirit and what I heard never came to pass. This caused me to doubt for several years my ability to hear from God in any other way than through reading His word. I became way out of balance.
One Friday night a little over a year ago, I was driving to a church to preach the last service of a week long revival. While driving around the loop in Odessa, TX I heard from the Lord. While driving around that loop on that overcast night and wet night, I had one of those special times with the Lord you never forget. God spoke some very specific things that night I still have not forgotten but none of those things came true. It really caused me to doubt my ability to discern the voice of God. So, in defense, I quit listening to the Lord speak to me except through His word.
Samuel as a young boy was given a crash course in listening to the voice of the Lord. We learn from the first verse of our passage, words from the Lord, were rare in those days. There was much wickedness in Israel starting in the house of the spiritual leadership. Eli’s sons were wicked and he knew it, but he did not remove his boys from their priestly duties though their behavior disqualified them from service. God just quit speaking to the prophets during this time.
Early in the wee hours of the morning, as the boy Samuel lay sleeping, the Lord called out to him. The voice was clear enough that Samuel thought Eli was calling out to him and so he arose and went to Eli. Eli told Samuel that he had not called him. This same thing happened a second time. The Bible tells us at this point, “Now, Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor had the word of the Lord yet been revealed to him.”[I Sam 3:7]
What can we learn from this verse? I think three things. One, to clearly hear from God you must know God. A lost person will not be able to hear God clearly until he or she has bowed before Christ and trusted Him for salvation. Second, you will not be able to distinguish the voice of God if you do not know Him well. I have friends who call me from time to time, because we have spent so much time together I am immediately able to identify their voice. If you spend precious moments in the presence of God you too will be able to distinguish His voice from all other voices clamoring for your attention. I believe there is a third thing we can learn from this verse. The scripture says, “… nor had the word of the Lord yet been revealed to him.” God will speak when He is ready to speak and He will reveal His message when He is ready to reveal it. We won’t have to have invented a message or manufacture a “word from the Lord”. He will reveal it clearly and specifically when He is ready. That is exactly what God did with Samuel.
Eli discerned that the Lord was speaking to Samuel and counseled Samuel to respond to the call of God by saying, “Speak for your servant is listening.” [I Sam 3:10]
God spoke in a powerful way. It was not an easy message for a prophet in training to hear right off the bat, but the message was clearly heard; Eli’s house would be judged because of the known iniquity of his sons and Eli did not rebuke them. The message went on to communicate that there would be no forgiveness or atonement for their sins.
Can you imagine hearing a word from the Lord that hard as a child and having to deliver it to a spiritual mentor such as Eli was to Samuel. Yet, Samuel obeyed.
I wish listening to the Lord was easier and formulated at times. Yet, I know my times lingering in His company transforms my life. I am different when I come out of such times. This has been a long message but I want to conclude with three personal stories about hearing the voice of the Lord.
Several years ago, I was leading a college retreat in which I scheduled each person during that weekend to get away from the rest of the group to spend one solid hour in prayer and listening to God. We were at the Pineywoods Baptist Encampment, outside of Groveton, TX where I had surrendered my life to preach in 1985 while attending a youth camp. Pineywoods is holy ground for me. I found a secluded place in the woods and began asking the Lord if I would ever get to preach in the tabernacle of that campground. His voice was clear, “I will let you preach here sooner than you think.” I ended up preaching two camps there during the two consecutive summers following that college retreat.
Another time I was invited to attend a revival service and went down during the invitation to seek God. What God spoke to me that night stunned me. He simply said, “The world will be your pulpit.” He gave me that word over ten years ago. I have often doubted that word, but while at that prayer cabin in Palestine this past week, God had something more to say to me about that. I am not at liberty to share everything the Lord spoke to me that morning but I will share what He allows me to share.
At first, I sat at the dining room table in that prayer cabin thinking I would start reading scripture until God revealed His message to me. Doing that just didn’t seem right. So I got up and went to a lounge chair and sat back trying to clear my mind and sit before the Lord to listen. I was in that chair battling random thoughts racing through my mind that I knew originated from me. I kept uttering the same prayer Samuel did, “Lord, please speak for your servant is listening.” Suddenly, He began to speak. Clearly! I got up and hurried back to my journal at the dining table so I could record everything He was speaking to me. For the next several minutes I was mesmerized by the presence and voice of God Himself. I have never heard a longer sustained message and more personal message than I did while sitting at that dining room table. Here is the only part I have freedom to share with you, “If you lead my people pray I will grant you power like you have never known and I will honor my word to you years ago, ‘The world shall be your pulpit.’”
I called Brenda and talked to her after my time with the Lord and three hours away in the wee hours of the morning the Lord had also spoken clearly to her from the scriptures and much of what she heard was the same message God had spoken to me.
I know you are busy and life spins by fast. I urge you to devote time to listening to the Lord. Pray the same prayer Samuel prayed and I prayed in that cabin yesterday morning, “Father, speak for your servant is listening.” Wait on Him. When He is ready to reveal His heart and plans it will be like the flood gates opening. Keep listening and obey whatever He says.