Intimacy requires communication. On one hand, words need to be offered. If friends don’t talk, if families don’t share, and if spouses stop discussing—those relationships will weaken, fade, and eventually fail. On the other hand, words need to be received. If students can’t understand their teachers, if athletes tune out their coaches, and if children ignore their parents—those relationships will suffer too.

Intimacy requires communication. And we serve a God who communicates truthfully, powerfully, and clearly. He reveals himself rightly and sufficiently. He guides us wisely and effectively. The Creator of all things has always been speaking (Heb. 1:1–2). God wants us to know him—his character, his expectations, his purposes. He wants us to be saved by him, to abide in him, to live lives that reflect him, and to become more and more like him. God wants intimacy with us. So—he speaks. The question is: Are we listening?

SERMON MANUSCRIPT 

Intimacy requires communication. On one hand, words need to be offered. If friends don’t talk, if families don’t share, if spouses stop discussing—those relationships will weaken, fade, and fail.

On the other hand, words need to be received. If students can’t understand their teachers, if athletes tune out their coaches, if children ignore their parents—those relationships will suffer too. Intimacy requires communication. 

We serve a God who communicates truthfully, powerfully, and clearly. He reveals himself rightly and sufficiently. He guides us wisely and effectively. The Creator of all things has always been speaking. As Hebrews says, “Long ago, God spoke to our ancestors by the prophets at many times and in various ways … but in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son”—the Lord Jesus Christ (Heb. 1:1–2).

God wants us to know him—his character, his expectations, his purposes. He wants us to be saved by him, to abide in him, to live lives that reflect him, and to become more and more like him.

God wants intimacy with us. So—he speaks. The question is: Are we listening? 

Please turn to 1 Samuel 3 and, as you turn there, let’s remember that this was a dark time in Israel’s history. The people were disloyal and the priests were dishonest. Spiritually, the nation was in a bad place.

But into that darkness, God brought hope. A woman named Hannah, full of faith, receives a son from the Lord and, just as quickly, returns him to the Lord. She dedicates her miracle baby, Samuel, to God’s service. 

And in the opening two chapters, it’s clear: this boy is going to be used by God to change the direction of an entire nation. He’s going to speak for God on behalf of God to the people of God. But first, he needs to hear from God. And that’s what we see in chapter 3. 

THE ABSENCE OF GOD’S WORD

Now, the scene opens with the absence of God’s word. We’re given a peek into what happens when God isn’t speaking and when his voice isn’t heard. [3:1–3]

This account is taking place in a time when “word from the Lord was rare” and “visions were infrequent” (3:1). This is an era when the nation was as much in the dark as their priest, whose “eyesight had begun to grow dim” (3:2). 

According to Leviticus 21:18, Eli’s blindness should have disqualified himself from that office, but consistent with what we’ve learned so far about him and his sons, he’s playing fast-and-loose with God’s law. 

We get the impression that part of the reason for God’s silence “in those days” was because Israel needed new leadership—someone to whom God would speak and someone who would listen when he did. They didn’t have that. The only revelation their current leadership was getting from God was that of judgement (2:27–36; 3:12–13).

It was a dark time for God’s people, but “the lamp of God had not yet gone out” (3:2). A beautiful picture of flickering faithfulness and hope. God’s desire for intimacy with his people had not been extinguished. 

And, while the priest was “lying down in his place” (3:2) outside the sanctuary, the boy was sleeping “in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was” (3:3)—the place of revelation and fellowship. God was up to something, but, for now, his word was still absent.

To get the silent treatment is never good. It’s an uncomfortable, accusative, and debilitating recompense. 

Well, divine silent treatment is worse. Later, Saul will ask God for help but hear only crickets because of his sin (14:37; 28:6). Years after that, God will tell rebellious Israel, “Behold, days are coming when I will send a famine on the land, not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, but rather for hearing the words of the Lord” (Amos 8:11).

Hearing from God is a privilege, not a right. And when people ignore and dismiss what he says, he may stop saying it, removing his correction, direction, and education. And then what’s left? “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Jdg 21:25).

It is the reason our world is in the state it’s in. It’s the reason our country is struggling. It’s the reason the evangelical church is often an impotent joke and a weird social club. It’s the reason marriages fracture and families implode. And it’s the reason we don’t enjoy the lives God wants us to live. It’s the absence of God’s word—whether not heard, not understood, not cherished, or not obeyed—and it’s never good.

THE RECEPTION OF GOD’S WORD

God’s word was absent at this time in Israel’s history, and the nation was in the gutter. But everything changes with the reception of God’s word. [3:4–10]

“The Lord called” Samuel three times (3:4, 6, 8) and, each time, the boy assumed it was his aging mentor in the other room and “he ran to Eli,” “arose and went to Eli,” and “arose and went to Eli.” 

Now, it’s not surprising that Samuel doesn’t recognize God’s voice. Remember, “in those days” divine audio/visual communication was “rare” and “infrequent.” On top of that, “Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor had the word of the Lord yet been revealed to him” (3:7). He had no experience with God’s voice, so why would he recognize it now?

Eli, on the other hand, probably should have got it but his slowness to grasp what God was doing is, at this point, predictable.

So, in the middle of the night, upon hearing a voice, Samuel rushes to present himself to Eli for service: “Here I am,” “Here I am, for you called me,” “Here I am, for you called me.” Like Abraham (Gen. 22:1, 11), Jacob (31:11; 46:2), Joseph (37:13), and Moses (Ex. 3:4), this boy is shown to be primed for submissive obedience.

I’m not my best when I first wake up and I’m even worse if I get woken up. My knee-jerk reaction likely more irritable annoyance than humble attentiveness. 

But that’s Samuel. He doesn’t know who’s calling him, but he’s ready to listen and obey. “Then the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ And Samuel said, ‘Speak, for Your servant is listening’” (3:10). 

While the boy’s initial response was to run to Eli the priest, he’s not going to do that anymore. Something is changing at this moment, and it centres on the reception of God’s word. From now on, he’s is going to be the leader. He’s going to hear from the Lord. He’s going to say to God directly, “Speak, for Your servant is listening.”

Is that how we receive God’s word? Do we present ourselves before his revelation with such submission and expectation?

I had to practice this summer. As most of you know, my family and I were away for three months and, during that time, we had the opportunity to fellowship with other church families. I got to do what most of you do every week: listen to a preacher preach!

And preachers are notoriously bad at listening to preaching, because we default to examination, not reception; to criticism, not submission.

Thirteen times this summer, I had to remind myself: “I’m not here to listen to this preacher—I’m here to listen to God. It’s his voice I need to hear and if that guy has the Bible open, that can be done. So, speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”

It’s hard though, isn’t it? For me, at least, that humble attentiveness to the Lord is not natural. I relate to the prayer of George Herbert: “For my heart’s desire / unto Thine is bent: / I aspire / to a full consent.” Lord, I want to receive your word with humility, excitement, and readiness.

THE NATURE OF GOD’S WORD

That’s how Samuel received God’s word. And, because he did, he learns about the nature of God’s word. [3:11–18]

“The Lord said to Samuel, ‘Behold, I am about to do a thing’” (3:11a). What thing? The thing he said he was going to do in chapter 2. He’s going to “carry out against Eli all that [he] spoke concerning his house, from beginning to end” (3:12). All of it. His word is binding.

God knew that Eli knew the evil of his sons, how they “brought a curse on themselves” and that Eli “did not rebuke them” like a parent—and a priest—should have (3:13). So, God has “sworn to the house of Eli” (3:14). Judgement is happening and, when it does, “both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle” (3:11). 

In a day when hardly anyone is hearing God, they’re going to hear this. The silence will be broken with a thunderclap of revelation, one that will leave ears ringing. His word is binding and reality-shaping.

And poor Samuel—tough first assignment. He gets up in the morning and keeps busy in the temple, “afraid to tell the vision to Eli” (3:15). Why? Because, even though this is the first time he’s heard God’s word, Samuel knows the nature of God’s word, and he has to deliver it without softening it, changing it, or obscuring it. As with all who hear God’s word, Samuel is a herald, whose job is to say what his Master said—the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Eventually, Eli calls the boy and Samuel humbly presents himself: “Here I am” (3:16). Ironically, Eli threatens judgement upon Samuel if Samuel doesn’t tell him what God said which, as we know and Eli is about to find out, is also judgement.

Samuel submits, speaking God’s word. And it seems Eli submits, receiving God’s word: “It is the Lord; let him do what seems good to him” (3:18). As he told his sons in 2:25, “If a man sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?” And the torch of leadership is passed.

Both Eli and Samuel knew the nature of God’s word. What God says he’ll do, he’ll do. Totally. Wholly. Perfectly. When God speaks, it is binding and reality-shaping. 

He desires light, darkness flees. He wants judgment, kingdoms fall. He pronounces forgiveness, pardons are applied. He promises life, “death where is your sting?” This is the nature of God’s word: it effectively creates, enlivens, judges, and renovates. 

THE RESTORATION OF GOD’S WORD

Simply stated, God’s word brings restoration.

Remember how this chapter began: “And word from the Lord was rare in those days, visions were infrequent” (3:1). Now look how it ends: [3:19–4:1a].

While the Lord had not been making himself known, now he “was with” Samuel and “appeared again.” While the Lord had not been speaking, now he “revealed himself to Samuel,” none of his prophecies being allowed to fail. While Israel had been without God’s word, now “all Israel … knew that Samuel was” the bearer of God’s word and “the word of Samuel came to all Israel.” 

Like a cold drink on parched lips during a heat wave, so God’s word brings restoration to Israel’s leadership, Israel’s people, and Israel’s relationship with their God. There’s still a long way to go, but it starts here, with hearing the Lord.

In the absence of God’s word there is aimlessness and judgement. This is true in nations, churches, families, and personal lives. We scorn his communication to our own detriment. But, when the we receive God’s word humbly and respond obediently, acknowledging its authoritative nature, we start to experience its restoration.

All who are saved are born again through the living and abiding word of God (1 Pet. 1:23), the gospel itself being the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16). All Scripture was exhaled by God, every part of it useful for our healing, maturing, and equipping (2 Tim. 3:16–17). It is the very word of God at work in us (1 Thes. 2:13), conforming us into the image of Christ, the incarnate Word (Rom. 8:29).

BOW DOWN, LISTEN UP, AND WATCH OUT!

Intimacy requires communication, and God has spoken. Our job is to humbly and expectantly listen, to bow down, listen up, and watch out!

Many of us are good at one or two of those pieces, but not all three. You may listen up, reading God’s word regularly, listening to sermons, gathering with God’s people, but, if you’re honest, there’s a lack of humility in your heart. You often place yourself over God’s word, in judgement of God’s word. You consider it more a collection of life hacks written for you and your needs than the self-disclosure of the Almighty God. 

You need to bow down. This may mean asking God to meet you, to cleanse you, to humble you before you read the Bible. It may mean, when Scripture is read publicly, bowing your head as a small reminder of humility. Perhaps it means that when you sit under the preached word that you remind yourself that it’s God voice you need, not the preachers’. 

Some of us may be humble—we know we need God—but we don’t listen up. We aren’t in the word. In fact, we’ve kind of outsource it to the preacher or Bible study leader. We assume it’s too complicated for us or not necessary or too boring, or whatever. We need to discipline ourselves to hear God’s voice. He has spoken and he wants to be known. Are we taking advantage of that?

Finally, some may bow down and listen up, but fail to watch out. Do you listen to God’s voice with expectation, knowing the binding nature of his word? He has said these things and they are going to happen!

---

---