Back in those most ancient of days when the telegraph was the fastest method of long-distance communication, a young man had applied for a job as a Morse Code operator. Answering an ad in the newspaper, he went to the office address that was listed. When he arrived, he entered a large, busy office filled with noise and clatter, including the sounds of the telegraphs clicking in the background.

A sign on the receptionist’s counter instructed each job applicants to fill out a form, sit down and wait until they were summoned to enter the inner office.

The young man filled out his form and sat down with the seven other applicants in the waiting area. After but a few brief minutes, the young man stood up, had crossed the room to the door of the inner office, opened it and walked right in.

Naturally the other applicants perked up, wondering what was going on. They muttered among themselves that they had not heard any summons yet. They believed that the brash young man who went into the office made a mistake and because of his presumptiveness would be removed from the office, disqualified.

Within a few minutes, however, the employer escorted the young man out of the office and said to the other applicants, “Gentlemen, thank you very much for your interest and for taking time to come, but the job has just been filled.”

The other applicants began grumbling to each other, and one spoke up saying, “Wait a minute, I don’t understand. He was the last to come in, and we never even got a chance to be interviewed. Yet he got the job. That is so not fair!”

The employer said, “I’m sorry, but all the time you’ve been sitting here, the telegraph has been ticking out the following message in Morse Code: ‘If you understand this message, then do not wait, come right in. The job is yours.’ None of you heard it or understood it. This young man did. The job is his.”

Truth is: We live in a distracted world that is full of busyness and clatter.

Like those other applicants waiting in that office, people are distracted and unable to hear the message from a still, small voice of God as he speaks to them.

What about me? Am I too distracted? Am I tuned into God’s voice?

What about you? Are you too distracted? Are you tuned into God’s voice?

Do you hear him over your ultra-high-tech earphones when he speaks to you?

Are you and I distracted or are you and I listening?

Today, we are pondering this subject of “Ultra-High-Tech Holy Headphones: How to Hear God’s Voice” and the Lord and I want you to see exactly how God speaks to us through distraction so we can hear Him when He speaks to us all.

How many of you all wearing your earbuds have ever heard God speak to you?

1 Samuel 3:1-11 NIV

The Lord Calls Samuel

3 The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.

² One-night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. ³ The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord, where the ark of God was. ⁴ Then the Lord called Samuel.

Samuel answered, “Here I am.” ⁵ And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.

⁶ Again the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

“My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.”

⁷ Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.

⁸ A third time the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. ⁹ 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.

¹⁰ The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”

Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

¹¹ And the Lord said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

I’m certain by the end of this devotion, if you’re one of God’s children, you’ll be more aware of the times when God was speaking, and more aware of when God will be trying to speak to you, and if you are not one of God’s children, then you will be more aware of how you can become one and then start to hear His voice.

The first thing you got to do to hear God’s voice is Tune In. You cannot listen to your favorite music or news program on the radio unless your radio is tuned in to those stations, can you? You can’t listen to Rock if your car radio is tuned to News, can you? Well, you can’t hear God’s voice unless you are tuned in to Him.

“He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.” John 8:47

Young Samuel is lying down trying to sleep in the temple, the candles were still lit, so it’s about 2 or 3 in the morning and he cannot quite to get fully to sleep.

I believe His mind’s probably racing from everything he learned that day. You see, Samuel was perhaps 8 or 9 years old, and he was living with Eli, the priest. His mother Hannah had dedicated him unto the Lord as a baby, so Samuel as a boy learned the function of a priest under the Chief Priest – Eli.

So here Samuel is trying to get some rest and he hears somebody call his name.

He stands up, runs to Eli’s bedside and says, “Here I am, what did you want?”

And Eli’s like, “I didn’t call you, go back to bed.” So, Sammy goes back to the sack and the same thing happens. He hears somebody call his name, goes to Eli, Eli says, “It wasn’t me,” and he goes back to bed. The same thing happens a third time, and this time Eli catches on that God is the one calling Samuel.

So, Eli gives young Samuel some instruction on hearing from God and he goes back to bed, hears the voice of God, and then listens to what God has to say.

You see, at the beginning, Samuel didn’t quite know what was going on.

He believed Eli was calling him. He wasn’t tuned in to God, the Scripture says,

“the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.”

If he was tuned in to God, he would have known that it was God who was speaking to him, and he would have heard clearly all the instruction that God had for him.

So, what about you?

So, what about us?

Have we tuned in to God?

Can we or can we not tell when God is genuinely speaking to us?

A man and his friend were in downtown New York City, walking near Times Square in Manhattan. It was during the noon lunch hour and the streets were filled with wall-to-wall people walking in every which direction. Cars were honking their horns, taxicabs were all squealing around corners, sirens were wailing, and the sounds of the city were almost deafening.

Suddenly, one of the men said, “I just heard some crickets.”

His friend said, “What? You must be crazy. You couldn’t possibly hear crickets in all of this ridiculous noise!”

“No, I’m sure of it,” the man said. “I definitely heard a bunch of crickets.”

Shaking his head, “That’s way beyond crazy,” said his friend.

The man quietly interrupted his friend listened carefully for a moment, and then walked across the street to a long cement planter where several shrubs were growing. He stopped, looked into the bushes, beneath the branches, and sure enough, he located several crickets. His friend was utterly amazed.

“That’s just incredible,” said his friend. “You must have super-human ears!”

“No,” said the other man. “My ears are no different from yours. You see, it all depends on what you are distracted by what you are hearing and listening for.”

“But that can’t be!” said the friend. “I could never hear crickets in this noise.”

“Yes, it’s true,” came the reply. “It depends on what you’re listening for. Here, let me show you.”

He reached into his pocket, pulled out a several coins, and discreetly dropped them down on the sidewalk. And then, with the noise of the crowded street still blaring in their ears, they noticed every head within twenty feet turn and look to check their pockets to see if the money that tinkled on the pavement was theirs.

“See what I mean?” asked the man.

“It all depends on what you are hearing and what you are listening for.”

If you have ears to hear and are actually using them to listen, you can tune in to God, it doesn’t matter what’s going on around you, you can hear Him speak.

Ok, if you really, truly, genuinely, actually, actively want to tune in to God. Well, what ultra-high-tech earphones do you and God have on right in this moment?

Speak Truth: Are any of us even close to tuning into the same frequency as God?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Dear Father in heaven, your Son promised that we would see him again if we wait patiently and listen to what the Holy Spirit says to us. Illuminate our hearts and send your Spirit in. All that is yours will be ours through your Spirit. I pray that I learn to quiet my mind so I can hear the Holy Spirit. I pray that I am filled with the understanding to know how to follow its guidance for me. Amen.

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