Reading (1 Samuel 3:1-10)
The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions. One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord, where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called Samuel.
Samuel answered, “Here I am.” And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.
Again the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
“My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.”
Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.
A third time the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”
Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
Thought
Last week I broke my mobile phone. It was completely my own fault, I dropped it on the floor. I have to say it was not the first time that I had dropped it and when it happened, I didn’t think that anything was wrong. I picked up the phone and it looked absolutely fine, it worked fine, but unbeknown to me it wasn’t fine, it wasn’t fine at all. Inside the phone a crack had appeared, not a very large crack but one just large enough to cause the screen to start to turn black. The following morning when I woke up and looked at the phone half of the screen was now black so using the phone became somewhat more difficult as I could only see things that appeared on the bottom half of the screen. I was driving home from Lincoln that evening and by the time that I arrived home the entire screen was black and my phone was now useless.
So this week I have been without a mobile phone. I am aware that for some people that would have been a bit of a disaster and would have caused a great deal of stress. Had I been at home it would not have caused me much of an issue at all, as I don’t use the mobile that much when I am at home, but when I am out and about in the car or away from home, it becomes much more important as a means of communicating with people and letting them know that all is well and for that reason I have missed the phone enormously.
During this pandemic we have all become aware of how important it is to stay in touch with each other. We have all learned to use different types of communication in order to keep in contact. We all know how important it is to stay in touch with God as well. Sometimes it feels as if he is not communicating with us, when actually it is us who have failed to spend time with him. Sometimes we have to realise that it is our fault that we do not hear him and that we have to do something about it in order to put the lines of communication back in.
I now have a new mobile phone, just like the old one, but this one does not have a broken screen so I can see to use it again. This time I will be more careful not to drop it on the floor as I don’t want to be without it again. Thankfully I don’t need a mobile phone to talk to God, I just need to ensure that I am careful to spend time with him. I also need to remember that it is not all about me talking, I need to be quiet as well so that I can listen.
Prayer
Loving Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are always ready to listen to us. We are sorry for the times that we have not been ready to listen to you.
Amen
Song: Speak O Lord (Getty/Townend)