Wednesday, November 6, 2013
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I'm on the road a lot, and the phone in my room is still a very important tool (especially when I'm in those areas when I don't have cell signal). But years ago, even before cell phones, it was even more frustrating. I was staying in this campus guest room provided by the school where I was ministering. I appreciated the room; I just didn't appreciate the phone. See, I couldn't call out, even collect or with a credit card. The school had programmed the phone so it blocked any outgoing calls, because I guess they didn't want to get stuck with long distance bills.
It was frustrating! Especially early in the morning or late at night when I wasn't dressed and I couldn't easily get down to the public phone seven floors down in the "good old days." One morning we were in the middle of something that required daily communication with my office, and I literally prayed that someone from our team would call and deliver me from my one-way telephone prison. And God answered the prayer - they did call. Then they called the people that I needed to hear from. Oh, I could get calls; I just couldn't initiate them. So I was stuck being able to talk only when someone wanted to talk to me. Too bad if I wanted to talk to them.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "One-Way Calls."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Samuel 3:8-9. It's right at the beginning of Samuel's life as he is a young man staying with the priest, Eli. And it says, "The Lord called Samuel a third time, and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, 'Here am I. You called me.'" This had happened twice before that same night. "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." And that's exactly what happened. The Lord did come and that's what Samuel said, "Speak for your servant is listening."
See, God wanted to talk to Samuel, and He had a little difficulty getting the call through. He had to dial three times. God has some things He'd like to say to you about your future, your pain, your questions, the decisions you need to make, maybe the struggle you're going through. But maybe there's just a one-way phone most of the time. Oh, you're calling God whenever you feel like it. You're talking about whatever is on your mind. But maybe you're not allowing much opportunity for God to whisper something to your soul. He wants prayer to be dialogue, not monologue.
The problem is we rewrite this verse. We say, "Listen Lord. Your servant is speaking." Oh, and He does. He listens. We initiate a call to God, we say what we want to say and hang up. But we miss so much when we don't allow God to call us with important things that He wants to show us.
What happens when you have a two-way phone system from earth to heaven and heaven to earth? Well, verse 11, God said to him, "See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears it tingle." I mean, exciting news! God wants to show you some amazing things, but you have to stop talking to hear them. It says, "Samuel went and laid down in his place and the Lord came and stood there." David said, "Be still and know that I am God."
So when you pray about something, allow some silent time at the beginning and at the end. Allow a space where God could call you. You probably won't hear an audible voice like Samuel; that's not needed so much today when God lives inside His children through the Holy Spirit. But He'll speak to you as you meditate on a verse of Scripture. He'll light up your situation suddenly with a personal application of those words or maybe as you're praying. I tend to trust the ideas or the insights that come into my mind while I'm talking to God about an issue, when I've turned off everything else, not looking at my cell phone, not looking at texts, not listening to the radio, no TV, nothing else around, and I'm just listening to God solo - to let Him say something to my soul. I can trust pretty much what I hear then.
I know the frustration of just receiving information without being able to send any, and so does God. If your heaven-link phone has only been calling out, why not try Samuel's prayer every new day, "Speak Lord. Your servant is listening." It's important that God receives calls from you; it's much more important that you get those calls from God.