He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you have called me.” “I did not call,” Eli replied. “Go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; for you called me.” He said, “I didn’t call. Lie down again.” He went and lay down.And he ran unto Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he said, I called not; lie down again. And he went and lay down.And he ran unto Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he said, I called not; lie down again. And he went and lay down.
3 sermons cite this verse
… Let me explain. If you fast forward to the time that we read about in 1 Samuel 3, verses 1 through 11, Samuel is a boy now, not a baby. Eventually, God gives Hannah what she asked for, a baby. But she had to take the baby back to the temple and dedicate him to the Lord, because that's what she vowed she would do. If God gives me a boy, I'll give him to you, Lord. I'll let him serve you. After she had weaned him, she took him, and she put him there in Eli's temple, which she knew was corrupt, but she had no other choice. She had to trust God that God is going to take care of this even though I can't. She had to trust God that I'm sending my kid to this crazy school, and I know what goes on there, but I know the God who goes before my kid that I'm sending to this school In giving her child to God, it meant that she spent almost every day of her life away from this boy. Now, God ended up giving her five other children, because you will never outgive God. …
He was listening to God. Eli taught him how to listen to God. If you're going to listen to God, remember this, that listening is not a passive experience. Listening is an active experience. It's not that we're just going to sit and God's going to say it all. But listening is both not just passive, but it is actively experiencing God communicating with us. And to do that, there is an attitude involved. It's not just an attitude, but an attitude is involved. It's an attitude and an activity. So first of all, let's begin with the word expectantly. If I'm going to listen to God, I must come to Him expectantly. I must expect Him to speak to me, call unto me, and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not. All through this book, you and I have the promise that God will indeed speak to us. Secondly, I must come to him quietly. Be still and know that I am God. …
And you know, I do believe that God does work in people's hearts and speak to them in such a way that sometimes they don't even realize he's speaking. You and I could go through the Old Testament, for example, again. He called Gideon to go and deliver the people from the Philistines. We could go to the New Testament and find Jesus saying to the disciples as he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he said, follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. Then you could go all the way to the book of Acts and find that here's Saul of Tarsus persecuting the Christians, throwing them in jail. and all of a sudden he is struck down on the Damascus Road, blinded. He hears a voice and God is calling him. Now, once in a while I'll hear somebody say, well, once when I was saved, I had a Damascus Road experience. Then I want to say, I'm grateful to God. He didn't have to knock me down and blind me to get me to listen to him. …