WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU HEARD FROM GOD? – PART ONE
Shall we pray
PRAYER
Father, we pray that as we approach Your Word now may You speak to us, and may we hear You expressly, and may we hear You clearly…in Jesus Name. Amen!
Today, I want to ask a question. The question is, When was the Last time You Heard From God?
When was the Last time You Heard From God?
And our text is taken from 1 Samuel 3, reading at verse 1.
1 Samuel 3:1-11
1 Then the boy Samuel ministered to the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation. 2 And it came to pass at that time, while Eli was lying down in his place, and when his eyes had begun to grow dim that he could not see, 3 and before the lamp of God went out in the tabernacle of the Lord where the ark of God was, and while Samuel was lying down, 4 that the Lord called Samuel. And he answered, “Here I am!” 5 So he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.”
And he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” And he went and lay down.
6 Then the Lord called yet again, “Samuel!”
So Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” He answered, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” 7 (Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor was the word of the Lord yet revealed to him.)
8 And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. So he arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you did call me.”
Then Eli perceived that the Lord had called the boy. 9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and it shall be, if He calls you, that you must say, ‘Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears.'” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10 Now the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”
And Samuel answered, “Speak, for Your servant hears.”
11 Then the Lord said to Samuel: “Behold, I will do something in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle.
Let us stop here because of time constraint. When was the last time you hear from God? The God we worship is a speaking God. He’s not silent. The first time we encounter Him in the bible He is presented to us as a speaking God. And that first time we encounter Him is in Genesis – and in Genesis chapter 1, for that matter.
Genesis 1:3,
Then God said…
Genesis 1:6,
Then God said…
Genesis 1:9,
Then God said…
And in Hebrews 1:1-2
Hebrews 1:1-3
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
Our God is the speaking God. Some people say that the bible is the only way God speaks today, He cannot speak in any other way. They imply then that God lost His voice when He was done speaking in the bible. Nothing could be farther from the truth. He still speaks in various ways. He still speaks through visions, dreams, circumstances and through people, to mention only four. But the bible validates these avenues of divine speech, and at the same time vets them by providing us the standard for judging them. This places the bible in a class by itself when we consider divine speech. So to speak or not to speak on the part of God that is not the question. The issue is not whether God speaks or not today: He speaks. But do we hear Him?
When was the last time you heard from God? Or do you try to hear Him by proxy? Some pay others to hear from God for them. This was the attitude of the Israelites in Exodus 20:19. They out of fear preferred to hear from God secondhand through Moses. I used to pray, God please speak to me, until I saw in the book – in the bible that God speaks. The question is not whether He speaks or not, whether He would speak or not; the question is, do I hear?
In Saint John’s Gospel 10, talking about the Shepherd and the Sheep, John 10:2 says,
John 10:2-3, 16, 27a
2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
6 And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.
27 My sheep hear My voice…
The shepherd speaks to the sheep constantly. The sheep’s responsibility is to learn to hear the shepherd’s voice. But sadly, many of us cannot hear the voice of God though He speaks all the time. Remember He is a speaking God. What is the problem? Is it possible we do not hear from God because:
- We are too busy and cannot stay still? We sacrifice the important thing, which is, hearing from God, at the altar of the expedient thing: which is the urgent thing.
- Is it possible we do not hear from God because we are more interested in hearing from people than from God? We spend endless hours watching television, listening to the radio endlessly and talking on the phone, but spend only few minutes in God’s presence.
- Is it possible we do not hear from God because we have done nothing about the thing He spoke to us the last time? He does not waste words.
Why is it important to hear from God?
- Hearing the voice of God helps us avoid costly mistakes, helps us avoid frustration and guarantees us success in life.
– Hearing the voice of God
A good illustration is the experience of Paul in his Second Missionary Journey, in Acts of the Apostle 16. In verse 6,
Acts 16:6-10
6 Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. 7 After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. 8 So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.
God has spoken and they heard Him. And this guaranteed success in Paul’s Missionary Journey. If he did not hear from God, if he had not listened to God he would have gone to those places that the Lord forbade him from going, and he would have met with a lot of frustration.
Hearing the voice of God imparts faith to our hearts to meet the challenges of life.
We will continue from this second point next time. Till then, may God richly bless you.
PRAYER
Father, we thank You so much for Your Word. It is my prayer that Your people would hear, not the voice of a man, but from You, and be blessed; for Your Word gives life…in Jesus Name we have prayed. Amen!