Hearing God

Unfortunately, Eli no longer could hear the voice of God or see the work of God. First Samuel 2:12-36 depicts the demise of Eli’s household, primarily because of sin. The text records the fact that he can hear all the things his sons are boasting about that are wicked and vile (2:22). He can hear the voice of others talking about the sins of his boys (2:23). He can hear others, but due to his sin he can no longer hear God. Yahweh says (through a prophet), “You have honored your sons more than Me, by making yourselves fat with the best part of all of the offerings of My people Israel” (2:29). Apparently, Eli and his sons were receiving the sacrificial animals from God’s people, but instead of giving the choice meat that belonged to God as a sacrifice on the altar, they were taking it for themselves as a meal. They literally “got fat” off of God’s people and God’s offering. As a result, God stripped Eli and his family of their priestly duties. As we saw in the introduction to this volume (pp. 27–28, 31–32), God then raised up a faithful prophet and priest to lead His people in the land, and this faithful one is Samuel (2:35-36). The reason for Eli’s deafness to God’s voice is sin, as the narrative of chapter 3 bears out.

But the story of Eli becomes the story of God’s people in the book of Samuel. They, like he, tend to listen to the wrong voice because of their sin. God still speaks, but God’s people cannot hear because of their brokenness and complicity and sin. What is worse, God’s voice may be heard, but it sounds terrible and frightening rather than the voice of a loving father, a heavenly King who cares for His people. Consider the primal pair (Adam and Eve) in the garden of Eden. When they sinned, God’s voice became a source of anxiety and fear rather than of hope and companionship. So too in Samuel. Sin either stops up our ears from God’s voice or makes God’s voice terrifying rather than comforting. Sin causes us to fear God’s voice rather than love God’s voice.

The notion of “unwillingness” stands out as a strange but powerful idea. In the book of Samuel, one notes a contrast of people. There is Samuel, who willingly hears God’s voice and obeys Him. But then there is Eli and his boys (Hophni and Phinehas), who are unwilling to hear God’s voice and thereby disobey Him. A barrier to hearing God’s voice is an unwillingness to be open to His voice and what He has to say. Unwillingness may derive from selfishness, the fear of change, or general rebellion. However, unwillingness to obey God’s voice ends in disaster, as the book of Samuel teaches with startling lucidity.

So God speaks, and He wants to speak to people today. How does He do this? He will use Scripture, His Spirit, His people, His creation, and His Son to communicate with people. So first and foremost, modern people must move beyond the barriers in order to listen to these instruments of God’s voice. God wants to speak to people, real people, today. But what in life prevents us from hearing His voice? We must learn to experience texts like Psalm 40:6:

You do not delight in sacrifice and offering;

You open my ears to listen.

You do not ask for a whole burnt offering or a sin offering.

The phrase “You open my ears to listen” can be reasonably translated from the Hebrew “two ears You have dug out for me.” The image is powerful. God takes a pickax to our heads to mine the deafness and hardness of sin, inexperience, unwillingness, and sloth out of our spiritual ears. As Eugene Peterson comments, “The primary organ for receiving God’s revelation is not the eye that sees but the ear that hears—which means that all of our reading of Scripture must develop into a hearing of the word of God” (Peterson, Eat This Book, 92).

We need God to attune our ears in order that we might hear Him. As J. D. has said to the Summit Church over and over again, God reveals Himself to us, opens Himself to us, when we put our yes on the table with God without reservation or hesitation. God gives us an open ear as we lay our yes to God on the table. But why is it good to hear God? What are the benefits of hearing God? The book of Samuel clarifies and exemplifies the benefits of hearing God.

Samuel was prophet and priest and almost a king (1 Sam 8). No one holds all three titles in Israel except Jesus, who was Prophet, Priest, and King. Traditionally this is known as the trifold office of Jesus. Still, as Jesus follows and expands on the pattern of Samuel, it is clear that Samuel is a towering figure in the story in the books of Samuel. So this raises a good question for us: Are modern followers of Jesus to emulate Samuel?

We might be tempted to say yes. After all, he heard from God, preached the word of God, confronted evil, and followed God faithfully, even until his death. And it is true that Samuel illustrates the life of faith. But when we ask whether or how modern believers should emulate Samuel, we must respond negatively. Our goal should not be (at least in the first place) patterned on the life of Samuel.

Our goal should be to follow the One to whom Samuel’s life points: Jesus the Messiah! Jesus is our life and model as Christians. The Scriptures testify of Him, and we must not miss our Savior as we read Scripture. Jesus is the clue that unlocks the whole of creation. Paul reminds the Colossian church that Jesus is the image of the invisible God and the firstborn over all creation (Col 1:15). He says that all things are made through Him and for Him and must return to Him.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the famous German pastor and theologian, captures the magnitude of Jesus:

He is thecentre and the strength of the Bible, of the Church, and of theology, but also of humanity, of reason, of justice and of culture. Everything must return to Him; it is only under His protection that it can live. (Ethics, 56)

Our reading of Scripture must return over and over again to the center of everything, Jesus the Messiah.

Bonhoeffer’s words are helpful as we read the narrative about Samuel. As good as Samuel was, we must remember God spoke to Samuel because God had a purpose for Samuel that was specific to Samuel. But in Jesus we find our meaning and purpose in life. We find why Jesus has placed us in His world and what He calls for us to do in His world. In Jesus we discover life, and life to the fullest (John 10:10).

Why did God speak to Samuel? God spoke to Samuel so that Samuel would know God’s purpose for his life. God spoke to Samuel to raise him up as a prophet. God speaks to you and me to give our lives purpose. Our purpose will not look exactly like Samuel’s. God told Samuel he was to speak His prophetic word to Israel and her kings—specifically to Saul and David. God told Samuel he would anoint Israel’s true king, King David.

You and I don’t have that purpose. God has something different and unique for you and me. But this drives us to ask a foundational question: What are God’s purposes for our lives? We need to answer this question at two levels. God has already spoken on the first level, so it is not a mystery.

At the most fundamental level, the purpose of every human ever created by God is that we would please, honor, and bring glory to the One who made us. Or as the apostle Paul says: “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor 10:31 ESV). We exist to bring glory to the One who made us.

What does it mean to bring “glory” to God? It means to show God’s weightiness, His worth, His value, His majesty, and His beauty in everything that we do. It means to honor the Lord more than we honor ourselves. It means to put the beauty of God on display in the little and big things in life.

It is tempting to hear that and make it into a kind of “billboard” Christianity. In this way of thinking, to be a faithful Christian means to eat “Testamints™,” to model Christian T-shirts, to wear a cross around the neck, or to use churchy language in our tweets (#blessed). The thought is that these acts will demonstrate, like a billboard, that we love Jesus first and foremost.

Not to denigrate that stuff too much, but bringing glory to God is much deeper than those showy and often shallow expressions of Christianity.

Bringing glory to God in the whole of life means working out exactly what it means to live in such a way that honors God in everything—how we speak and work, what we wear and eat, how we care for our bodies and for those around us, and how we live in God’s world. We consider His pleasure and joy before we consider ours. We give Him the weight in our lives. And working this out can be really difficult because it’s deep and not shallow.

So how do we give God the glory in all that we do, practically speaking? Each person must work that out for himself or herself. However, there are some practices that will help us get on track when it comes to giving glory to God:

So what has the Lord already said when it comes to our purpose? He has already said to put Him first and give Him glory in all things. You and I will only know fulfillment when we begin to hear from God. We can talk to Him about any and every need we have. When you look at the experience of Samuel, you see a boy discovering what it means to live a fulfilled life as he hears God’s voice and follows Him, even if it is hard.

Hearing God, second, clarifies for us more specific questions about purpose in life. Specific calling and purpose in life are often termed “vocation.” In her book Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good, Amy Sherman speaks about practical ways we find our purpose. Finding one’s purpose in life is that journey of discovery where we locate the places where God’s priorities, our gifting (and passion), and the world’s needs collide. The collision point is called the vocational “sweet spot.” See the following diagram (Sherman, Kingdom Calling, 108):

The collision point of divine priorities (discovered in Scripture), personal gifting (discovered in natural abilities and gifting), and the world’s needs (discovered by attending to areas of brokenness and sin in local communities) reveals the sweet spot for our purpose. We must understand that our sweet spot may change. We develop new talents and gifts as we grow and mature, and the world’s needs are always changing, at least to some degree.

The deepest need for people of the world is to know and love the God who made them. Because of this, it is vital that the world hears and receives the gospel of Jesus Christ, who reconciles all things back to God (Col 1:15-20). Broken people need to hear that they are far more sinful and broken than they could ever imagine, but they are more deeply loved by God than they could ever conceive. They need to hear that out of His love, God sent His one and only Son, so that through His sacrificial and atoning death on a cross, broken people might find forgiveness and hope. As broken and sinful people simply repent and believe in the Savior, they find themselves reconciled to God. This is the message of the gospel: not that we have loved God or could have earned our way to God but that God has loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice that takes away the wall of separation and brings us home (1 John 4:7-12). Hearing this good message is the deepest need of a broken world.

But it is not enough to proclaim the good news; we must also combat a broken world. We all know that broken people do terrible things: human trafficking, corruption, greed, and the like. At the root of all of it is sin and a separation from God. So we go to the root of the problem by proclaiming the gospel. But we also show a broken people who do terrible things that Jesus reigns in all things and over all things (Col 1:15-20). Jesus is King over everything, and so as Christians we discover the places of brokenness in the world and redirect them to the honor and glory of God.

For example, at the Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, we have seen God clarify for many of us in the congregation the vocational sweet spot and take broken things in the community and redirect them for God’s glory. We saw the challenge of parentless children in the county and state. The overwhelming reality of orphans exposes a deep brokenness in the area: some parents are not able to care for children. But God loves the orphan! In the Summit Church we recognized the deep need of the community, and we saw that some in the congregation had a passion and a gift for caring for these children. So they leveraged their lives for the sake of the gospel. They knew God cares for the orphan and widow through the church, they have a passion for the orphan, and so they establish a way for the church to be the instrument God uses to raise up folks to foster and adopt children without homes. This is a good example of how one can find the sweet spot. J. D. often speaks of how believers can “leverage” their gifts, talents, and passions for the gospel of Jesus Christ. As we do, we discover that God uses us to be the instruments He uses to impact the lost and broken world.

But finding our sweet spot, leveraging our lives, and discovering our purpose is not a microwave-quick moment. In her book, Sherman reminds us that finding the sweet spot of our purpose is a journey, and it does not happen overnight (Kingdom Calling, 107–8). Although there are lots of needs in the world, not every need has your name on it. We must discern what God has for each of us to do today. This is why prayer and hearing God are so essential for clarifying our specific sweet spot of purpose. As we think about going on the journey to find our purpose, we will discover that it is a journey of prayer, of hearing God at various levels:

As we walk the journey of prayer, we will find a road that takes us inward: toward God and His greatest desires for us and toward understanding our gifting and passion. And the journey inward will then propel us outward: toward the needs of the world. In and through multi-leveled prayer and hearing Him, God clarifies our gifts, our talents, and our desires so that we can be instruments in our Redeemer’s hands.

As we will see in this commentary, when we lose our focus on hearing God, disastrous things follow. Eli lost God’s voice and so lost his position as priest. Saul preferred hearing himself to hearing God. His disobedience to God’s voice proved to be his undoing (1 Sam 15:22-23). Hearing God is vital to a vibrant and purpose-filled life. We must hear God because He is the great King who rules all of life, as we will see in the following chapters.