When God Calls - Martin Wiles

So he said to Samuel, “Go lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, ‘Yes, Lord, your servant is listening.’” 1 Samuel 3:9 NLT

With a clear, distinct whistle, my grandfather mimicked the female bobwhite until the male was almost within sight.

Pappy, as I called my maternal grandfather, was an early riser. Why, I’m not sure. He farmed … a little. He made his living doing it but hired out most of the manual labor. He was up by five every morning, made his cup of instant coffee, and retired to the porch, where he smoked his cigarettes and waited for the sun to top the nearby row of pines.

As dawn began to break, the distant call of the male quail was common. Pappy puckered his lips, whistled a counter tune, and waited for the bobwhite to answer. When he did, Pappy would call again. Within a few minutes, the male would be perched in the large magnolia tree just a few feet away from the porch where Pappy sat. The male answered what he thought was a female’s call. What he found was a tall, overweight farmer.

After Samuel’s mother weaned him, she took him to the temple to assist Eli, the priest. As Samuel lay on his bed, God called. Not being familiar with God’s voice--and since God’s word was rare in those days--he assumed it was Eli. Eli thought the boy was hearing things, but after three times, he concluded it was God calling Samuel.

Just as my grandfather did the quail, God calls people to trust him as Savior, to enter a special area of service, or to walk closer with him. When God calls, we have a few options. We can obey, disobey, or delay doing anything. The free will God has instilled in us allows us to make these choices.

Of course, obedience is the best choice. We should obey all of God’s calls out of love and appreciation for what he has allowed his Son to do on Calvary’s cross. No one has ever demonstrated a more significant act of love. But obedience isn’t always so simple. 

Sinful patterns, fear of surrendering to God, or uncertainty over whether we’ve heard God can all lead to ignoring God’s call, or at least a delay in answering it. Obedience, on the other hand, builds experience by listening to his call so that we’ll not mistake the voice as Samuel did when God beckons in the future.

Think about how you will respond when God calls.

Father, may I always respond with obedience when you call me. 

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