During this LEARNING TO HEAR series I’m taking a different approach to these devotionals. I want to us work harder at searching the scriptures for ourselves. We will use the ‘Come to Jesus Daily’ method below to help us with this. It’s well worth the hard work involved!
TODAY’S TEXT
“The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ Then Samuel said, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening.’” (1 Samuel 3:10)
I’ve included my reflections on today’s text below. However, I encourage you to pray and spend time reflecting (writing can be helpful) using the 5 questions below before reading my thoughts.
i. †GOSPEL - 'Gaze on the cross'- What does this text reveal about salvation through Jesus?
ii. UP – What does this text say about God – His worth, character, attributes, will, promises…?
iii. IN – What does this say about me, the church and how we are to relate? Is there a promise to believe, command to do, attitude to have, something to avoid, is there forgiveness to seek or give?
iv. OUT – What does this say about my community and mission?
v. DO - This has two components. Firstly, list as many possible ways that you can think of that one might apply the text (actions or attitudes). Secondly, hear - Pray about how the Holy Spirit is leading you, specifically, to respond.
MY REFLECTIONS
1. †GOSPEL
God, by the Spirit, called to us. By His grace, He called us into a relationship with Himself. He spoke to us - through various means - of the message of the cross. We came from ignorance to a place of saying “speak for your servant is listening”.
2. UP
God speaks. God wants to speak to His people and He often does this through prophets and teachers like Samuel.
The Lord persists in speaking to us. We need not worry about missing out on what He’s saying. As with Samuel, He will keep speaking until we understand - if we have the desire to hear that is!
3. IN
God was raising up Samuel to be a prophet to His people. We read,
“The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.” (1 Samuel 3:1)
God was raising up a prophet to speak to His people. Likewise, the Lord continues to raise up people with different gifts to speak and prepare His church.
“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up” (Ephesians 4:11-12)
The Lord wants us to be responsive to His voice. We are to be hungering to hear and do what He says.
Our personal lives are to be shaped by God’s voice. What is our vision for our lives - our work, family, church involvement, friendships, recreation, our relationship with God…. Is it a vision that is being formed by the Lord? Do we allow our lives to form by accident or on purpose, as a result of prayer and contemplation?
4. OUT
God spoke to Samuel when He didn’t know the Lord’s voice. God continues to speak in different ways to those who don’t know Him.
God spoke through Samuel to the nation; will we be a Samuel to the community that God has put us into?
5. DO? - Here are a few examples of application that I’ve come up with:
An application could be to make it a habit to pray, “Speak for your servant is listening” before you read the Bible.
We could pray for ourselves and the church for word-gifts to be given.
Do we need to change our attitude in order to see ourselves as a Samuel to our church family and our community?
HEAR - Pray about how the Holy Spirit might want you to respond.
COMMUNITY GROUP STUDY
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