When I was young, my dad would come home from work, lay on the couch, and read the newspaper. He loved to do this every night. My mom would call from the kitchen saying she needed his help, and he was so deeply reading the paper, he wouldn’t hear her. Now of course I think he did actually hear her, but he wasn’t listening. Because all he wanted to do was read his newspaper. He tuned everything else out. You know that old saying, “selective hearing?”

For any of you that have kids - I think they are the master at this - hearing but not listening. I remember telling my kids over and over to take the trash out, and in the morning I would see it never happened. And of course they would say, “we didn’t hear you.” Yea right!

In 1 Samuel, the Lord spoke to Samuel - but he wasn’t listening. So the Lord tried again, and Samuel heard him, but did not listen. Each time the Lord spoke to Samuel he heard the Lord, but he did not listen. But interestingly, even though Samuel wasn’t listening, the Lord kept trying until he did. The Lord didn’t get louder, He didn’t get mad, He just kept trying. And eventually Samuel listened.

Unlike my mom who would eventually give up trying to get my dad to listen when he was reading his paper…unlike us who get angry with our kids when they do not listen…

the Lord will never give up trying to get us to listen.

Today, as you spend time in prayer to God, first spend some time not talking to Him, but listening to Him. And maybe, just maybe, you will hear Him.