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There’s a difference between having ears and having “ears to hear.” In other words, there are different types of hearers. Some hear the words of God, but their heart is closed, and they cannot receive it. There are others who hear and receive it into their heart and live according to it. They are the ones who have ears to hear.

What a contrast between the Jewish leaders of Jesus’s day and the disciples who said, “Who else has the words of life?”

Matthew 13:15-16, “The heart of this people has become dull, with their ears they scarcely hear. They have closed their eyes, otherwise they would see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their heart …and return to the Lord, and I would heal them. Blessed are your eyes, because they see and blessed are your ears, because they hear.”

1 Samuel 3 is about having ears to hear; about learning to hear the voice of the Lord.

The book begins by the account of how the prophet Samuel came to be born. His mother, Hannah, had been barren for many years. That in and of itself would have been difficult to endure, but it was made much worse because her rival, Peninnah, the second wife of her husband, was provoking her bitterly, on purpose, just to irritate her because of her barrenness.

Instead of retribution, of getting even, instead of adding drama to drama, Hannah prayed, she brought her burdens to the Lord. Year after year, when her family went to the Tabernacle in Shiloh, she prayed there, asking God for a son.

God delayed in answering her prayers, but Hannah was steadfast and persisted in prayer. One day, as she was praying at the Tabernacle in Shiloh, she made a vow to the Lord, saying, “O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, if You will not forget me, but will give your maidservant a son, I will give him to the Lord, and he will be dedicated to the Lord all the days of his life.”

God heard her prayers, and she gave birth to Samuel, which means, "heard of God." When the boy Samuel was weaned, she brought him to Shiloh and gave him to the priest, Eli, and Samuel served in the temple of Lord. Hanna visited him every year, bringing him a little robe she would make to give to him every year when she would come up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.

In chapter 3, the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord before the priest Eli. It's here Samuel begins his own personal relationship to the Lord. It’s here Samuel learns to have ears to hear.

We know that his mother, Hannah, was a faithful, godly woman and it was by her faith that Samuel was dedicated to the Lord. In those years that Samuel was with Hannah, she spoke character and heart and faith into the boy, and it changed him, it gave him a foundation.

But Samuel must come to his own personal relationship to the Lord. He must learn to have ears to hear and the heart to receive God’s word. For those who have ears to hear, will not only receive the words of God, but will take hold of them for himself, and he will live according to them. That’s the key to a beautiful life.

God Reveals Himself Through His Word

 Any word from the Lord was rare in those days, visions were infrequent.

 Why was a word from the Lord rare in those days? Because no one was listening. No one cared to hear what God has to say. There was even corruption in the priesthood.

 This took place during the time of the judges, one of the darkest periods in the history of Israel. Each man did what was right in his own eyes; therefore, they didn't care what was right in God's eyes. If each man did what was right in his own eyes, why listen to the word of the Lord?

 The same is happening today. Each man does what is right in his own eyes today. When someone comes to the point where they want whatever they want, without regard for what God wants, they stop listening to the word of God, they stop reading the word, and they do not honor God in their lives.

Pastor Rich Jones
Pastor Matthew Dodd
Rich Jones Calvary Chapel
Calvary Chapel Worship Center
Calvary Chapel Hillsboro
Calvary Chapel Oregon
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