Hearing the Voice, Part 1

Scripture References: 1 Samuel 3:2-4, 7-10

How do we hear the voice of God? Is it audible, or something we sense in our spirit? How do we learn to hear God's voice?
We see Samuel had learned to hear the voice of God as a little boy. Eli, the priest, had helped Samuel recognize God's voice. Samuel eventually learned to hear God's voice on his own, and God then raised Samuel up as a prophet to lead the nation of Israel. Things are going good; the people are following a man of God who can hear God's voice, and everything seems to be on the right track.
Then all of a sudden the people decide they want a king...

God hadn't raised up a king yet, but the people asked for a king so much that finally God told Samuel to anoint a king. So he goes and anoints Saul. Wouldn't it be a terrible thing to pray against God's will for so long that He finally gives you what you want because you weren't willing to wait?

So Saul has now been anointed king, but right away we see problems. Samuel tells Saul to wait for him in a certain place so they can offer sacrifices, but Saul gets restless and goes ahead and makes his sacrifice. Then Samuel tells Saul to kill all of the Amalekites, but Saul spares the king and the animals. I see two things: 1) Saul keeps disobeying, and 2) Samuel is constantly giving Saul directions.

We read in 1 Samuel 10:1, 5-8 how Samuel tells Saul to go to a particular place, and there would be prophets coming down a hill. Saul is supposed to meet with them, and then God's spirit will come upon him. Then after that, he is supposed to go to a particular place for Samuel until Samuel can give him more instructions. Wow, so many instructions!

Saul goes and he does meet the prophets like Samuel says. Then God's spirit comes upon Saul, and he prophesies! The people even ask whether Saul should be counted among the prophets. Saul is a mighty man of God, but yet he is still getting instructions from Samuel. He hasn't learned to hear God's voice for himself. It is easy to follow God's call and have a close walk as long as you have people walking right along side you and encouraging you, but there are times you will have to walk alone and must learn to hear God's voice for yourself.

Another note is that when we take God's instructions from other people, we'll eventually get frustrated. People are going to make mistakes and have bad days and sometimes even misunderstand God's will. If we rely on people to hear from God, we'll be frustrated. But what a great thing it is to hear from God, who is never late, doesn't make mistakes, and whom you can always depend on!

Because Saul was listening to a man instead of hearing God's voice for himself, he got frustrated and disobeyed and lost the kingdom. We must learn to hear God's voice for ourselves if we want to keep our ministry and do big things for God!