Speak Lord

“Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening." 1 Samuel 3:9

There is so much cacophony around us today. People play video games or watch movies on their phone with no headphones. You hear people talking on their speakerphones. Cars honk in traffic jams and even churches or mosques like to make their services heard far and wide. 

Before, we hardly noticed the phone. It was stuck on the wall, or placed on a desk. You couldn’t bring it far. Now we have our noses buried in it everywhere we go because we keep trying to catch up with the latest news, answer our emails, or find out what our friends are doing. 

Where is God in all this noise and activity?  He is still speaking. God is speaking to us in many different ways, and we just need to quiet ourselves and listen because God speaks in a still small voice. 

“And behold, the LORD was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire A STILL SMALL VOICE." (1 Kings 19:11-12) 

This was how the great prophet Elijah experienced the Lord. God spoke to him in a still small voice, a whisper. Samuel heard the Lord while he was sleeping. Samuel said, "Speak Lord, Your servant is listening," after three times of thinking it was Eli the priest who was calling him. We need to have the disposition of Samuel, who was so willing to get up from his sleep and do Eli's bidding. "Here I am," he said, three times. Perhaps we need to wake up earlier, while there is no noise yet, so we can say, "Speak Lord, Your servant is listening."