January 14: 1 Samuel 3:1-10
Key Verse: 1 Samuel 3:10
The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ Then Samuel said, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening.’
Devotion:
Samuel was serving under Eli at this time. One night when they were in their beds someone called out to Samuel and he assumed this was Eli because there was no-one else within earshot. When Samuel rushed to Eli’s side and said Here I am Eli woke up an insisted he had not called out. After a couple of times Eli worked out it must have been God calling out and told Samuel to stay where he was and simply say to the Lord that he was listening!
The Lord then spoke to Samuel and told him what was about to happen, but what he heard was not good news for Eli and his family.
Sometimes we find it hard to listen to God because we are so caught up in the world we loose grip of what He says to us and He tries to commune with us. This is nothing new because we have a whole history of people doing this in our bibles. The world is a place full of temptations and trappings to lead us away from God – the evil one has made sure of that!
God wants us to be able to stop in our lives and spend time trying to listen carefully to Him. Don’t be tricked into thinking other people are calling you or guiding you. They may well be being used by the evil one to disrupt our lives so we don’t get to listen to Go. It is hard to differentiate things at times and that is why God would like us to spend time alone with Him so we can get used to listening to Him...
Points to Ponder:
How often are you distracted by something in your life?
How often do you stop and give God time in your life?