Speak, Lord, for Your Servant Is Listening

1 Samuel 3:10 (ESV)
10  And the LORD came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.”

Lots of people tell me that they have never heard a word from God. That seems so strange to me. I want to tell them that not everyone hears from God. Yet, I am reluctant to do so because believers have the Holy Spirit. Believers have a relationship with the Lord. It is odd that God would provide the means of communicating to those who know Him and not speak to them at times. I have to ask why God would be silent or I have to ask why they can't hear.

I have never heard God audibly. I have never seen a burning bush. I have never had an angel appear before me. I believe all these are possible but they have never happened to me. Yet, I can tell of times that God has told me of things that were going to happen, things that were happening and things that I needed to make happen. I have had His urgings reveal my sins and cause me to repent.

About forty-three years ago I was convicted by the Lord to repent of my sins. I was so far away from the Lord that no one would have known that I was a believer. I confessed for some time and stopped. I think it was because the Lord knew my heart by this time and didn't need to be reminded of all the things I had done. I suddenly got an impression, "Go downstairs and pour out all of your liquor." That was the furtherest thing from my mind.

I don't believe that drinking alcohol makes you a bad person. I do believe that drinking a lot of it is a sin. However, in my newly repented state I said, "Lord, you know that I don't like to waste anything. Why don't I just go downstairs and drink it all tonight?"

That's when I got nothing but silence. I knew somehow that alcohol would never be something I would drink again. It was symbolic of my relationship with the Lord. So, I went downstairs and poured it all down the sink. The only alcohol I have had since then is found in Nyquil. I assure you it isn't a social drink for me.

So, why do I get these urgings when others don't. I can't say. Maybe they expect God to speak audibly or through a burning bush or an angel. Maybe they have heard from Him but they haven't recognized it because we preachers act as if it is an audible conversation.

All I can say is that I know He has spoken to me and I don't believe that I am special. I wonder if it would help people just to say: "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening."