Speak, Lord, For Your Servant Is Listening

Today’s Word Of Encouragement From Wayne:

“Then the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ And Samuel said, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening.’”

1 Samuel 3:10 

This is the fourth time God called to Samuel, the boy, as he was lying down in the temple at nigh, sleeping near the ark of the Lord. 

Each time God had called, little Samuel rose up and went to Eli, the elderly priest who, after the third time, discerned that God must be calling to Samuel. Eli told Samuel, “Go lie down, and it shall be if he calls you, that you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening’” (1 Samuel 3: 9). 

Each time God called to Samuel, there was an apparent growing urgency, culminating on this fourth occasion with God saying, “Samuel! Samuel!” 

And then, praise God, little Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

This is the simple inward posture of a minister to the Lord, who desires to know the Lord and receive the revelation of His word. 

As we previously looked at God’s third call to Samuel, the text said, “Samuel did not yet know the Lord nor had the word of the Lord yet been revealed to Him” (1 Samuel 3:7). 

Now we see God ready to speak to Samuel, with Samuel giving God his full attention. 

Samuel had already been ministering to the Lord, but now he was about to hear from and to know the Lord he was ministering to. 

Ministering to our Lord does produce a holy desire, and need, within us to stay with God in His presence,  ministering as a priest to Him, so we may always be towards the knowledge of our Lord and the revelation of His word. 

Ministering to the Lord keeps us Christ-centered, for Jesus Christ, our High Priest, is in God’s presence Who, “always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). 

The more we minister to our God, the more we want to know our God, because we are blessed to be seeing He is so excellent and beautiful, and worthy of our praises. Being within His presence is truly intended to be the delight of our lives.. 

Ministering to the Lord focuses us solely upon our God and this is the best posture for us to be in, as we seek His face in His presence.

Oh yes, Abba Father, today “Speak, Lord,”  for your servants are listening. Hallelujah!