Word for the day by Christina Education Forum
Calling from Childhood
1 Samuel 3: 1-10Sarah Varghese
Carmel MTC, Boston
9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and if he
calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.
Listening is a skill used in our
everyday lives. At school you listen to the teacher, at home you listen to your
spouse, mother, or father, and at work, you listen to your boss.
When
it comes to listening to our Lord, it becomes a bit more difficult. Often, in
our relationship with Christ, we do the talking. In prayer, we tend to fill
every moment speaking to Him with request for favours. It is important that we
talk to God daily, and it is just as important to be still in the silence
and wait. In our busy lives, there is no time to be still, we are constantly
moving and onto the next task. In our relationship with Him, we must make an
extra effort to be patient, wait, and listen. If we go without ever waiting to
truly listen to God, when He is calling us, we may not even recognize his
voice.
In
this passage we see that this is exactly what Samuel is going through. Samuel
thinks that Eli is the one calling him. He does not know who Christ is yet and
is following the voice he thinks he hears. In life, we tend to do the same. We
follow whatever we think is right. We follow our own paths, our own
tasks, and our own goals. We follow what we want to listen to. If we opened our
hearts and our minds to know God and listen to his voice, he might be telling
us something different. It may not always be what we want to hear or be aligned
with our own paths, but we are his servants. We are here to follow His will,
not our own.
PRAYER
Father, We pray that You would
help us to humble ourselves before You, so that we may hear when you are
calling us. We pray that as Your servants, You open our ears to listen to Your
words and follow Your will. In Jesus name we pray. Amen
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10
“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10