It's what makes all the difference

This morning, my daily Bible reading found me in 1st Samuel chapter 3. As I mentioned in my previous post, the Biblical truth about the spiritual capacity of young people has long been one of my life messages, and so this is a very familiar passage. It's the story where a small boy called Samuel hears God's voice for the first time. As the chapter begins, we read that this little boy was "ministering" in the temple - probably helping the priest in various ways. And by the end of the chapter, Samuel is already well known as a prophet, because people recognise that his words are truly from the Lord.

One verse in particular stood out to me this morning, and it's the thing that makes ALL the difference. In verse 7 we read that, Samuel didn't yet know the Lord. The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. This statement illustrates a fundamental truth: just because a child is in church, doesn't mean that he knows the Lord. Or the fact that an individual - of any age - ministers and serves in a church context, doesn't necessarily mean that the person knows God in a real and meaningful way. What makes all the difference, according to this writer in verse 7, is whether or not the person has actually heard God's voice for themselves. 

And even those who have heard God's voice in the past can so easily slide away from that intimacy if we don't regularly take time to say, as young Samuel said in verse 10, Speak, God. Your servant is listening.

Let's not forget to do that regularly and often in 2014. Hearing personally from God is what really makes all the difference when it comes to knowing Him and enjoying a friendship with Him in the twenty first century.