Sometimes we do not listen
Any of us humans
Sometimes we desire to listen but are not quite there
Samuel, when he was a child, he had not yet heard the voice of the Lord
And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord,
where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep;
That the Lord called Samuel: and he answered, Here am I.
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 the Lord called yet again, Samuel.
And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And he answered, I called not, my son; lie down again.
Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord,
neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him.
And the Lord called Samuel again the third time.
And he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me.
And Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child.
Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth.
So Samuel went and lay down in his place. 1 Samuel 3:3-9
Samuel heard the voice of the Lord audibly
That does not always happen to us now
The word of the Lord was rare in those days,
now, it is much more common, although to hear it audibly is still rare
Even though we have the Holy Spirit who ministers to us,
that does not mean we will recognize God’s voice
as easily as we might think
Most of us hear the Lord’s voice quietly inside since He dwells inside of us
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: John 10:27
If you are following Jesus, you likely have heard His voice
Sometimes, He does not speak in sentences,
He might convey a thought to you and you know it is from Him
You might have had something revealed to you, like who Jesus really is,
that His throne is the one and only throne of Heaven and Earth
or something you were concerned about, He put your heart at rest
If you have heard from Him, you will likely know
Some people can push God aside,
not realize His majesty or that He really revealed something to them
If you do recognize His voice, His speaking to you, showing you something that only God could do, listen to that
If you are not sure or haven’t heard anything from Him,
start by reading His word, The Holy Bible
Pray for understanding,
then ask Jesus to reveal Himself to you, to show you who He really is
I once talked to a lady I worked with
I asked her if she ever felt God speak to her
She said, just once
It was when a person close to her had died
and she knew that God was reaching out to her
She let it go and even when we were talking about it, she knew,
but she did not seem to find it special that God reached out to her
She said He never did again, just that once
It would be interesting to know
how many people have had experiences with God,
with Him speaking to them or reaching out to them and how they felt
With this lady, she knew it was God and she did not respond
And many years later, she remembered the experience
as God had touched her
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight:
but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him
with whom we have to do. Hebrews 4:13
There are no easy answers, but if we draw near to God,
He will draw near to us
Scriptural References:
Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
James 4:8
And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord.
And, behold, the Lord passed by,
and a great and strong wind rent the mountains,
and brake 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