Hearing the Horn - Martin Wiles

And Samuel replied, “Yes, your servant is listening.” 1 Samuel 3:10 NLT

When the horn blew, we knew it was time to come home.

As a child, I never knew the type of technology our current generation enjoys. My friends and I played the standard games—hide-and-seek, cowboys and Indians, Red Rover—but we also made up many games. Since our grandparents lived on a farm, my cousin and I were good at it.

Cell phones hadn’t been invented, but my grandmother invented a unique way to tell us when supper was ready. She walked outside, opened the door of her blue Ford Galaxy, and pressed the horn. The silence of the woods was broken only by the sounds of nature, so a car horn stuck out like a sore thumb. When we heard it, we immediately quit what we were doing and returned home.

The little boy Samuel didn’t initially hear the horn. He confused it with Eli’s voice. After several times of hearing what he thought was Eli’s voice, Samuel was told it was the Lord’s voice. The next time he heard the voice, he told God he was listening.

Silence is necessary to hear God’s voice. It was why my cousin and I heard the horn. Had we been near a road where the sounds of traffic continually bombarded our ears, we couldn’t have distinguished the horn.

God can speak amid our noisy lives, but the chances are high that we won’t hear Him. Time is required. My cousin and I gave time to the woods and the animals that lived there. We listened to their sounds, observed their likeness, and learned what made which sound. We’ll never learn to hear God clearly if we don’t spend time with Him.

We must also have a heart to obey. If God knows we have a disobedient streak, He’s not likely to reveal His plan. Our hearts must be tender and anxious to obey, so He’ll reveal His plan to us as He did to Samuel.

Additionally, we must deal with unconfessed sin. Sin prevents us from hearing God when He speaks, but confession clears the air so we can perceive clearly what He is saying.

Name some things that keep you from hearing God.

Father, I ask that You help me hear clearly when You speak. 

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