Recognizing God's Voice

Nydia, a statue by Randolph Rogers

When the prophet Samuel was a youth, he served the high priest Eli and lived in the temple with him; indeed, “Samuel [slept] in the temple of the Lord where the ark was” (1 Sam 3: 3). It was here that God called to Samuel three times, but Samuel did not recognize God’s voice and went running to Eli instead. Eli, an old man who could no longer see, nonetheless recognized that God was calling Samuel and instructed him to say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”

It seems rather ironic that Samuel, who was schooled in God’s service and even slept where the ark of the covenant was kept “was not familiar with the Lord” (1 Sam 3: 7). On the other hand, many of us have received religious education, and we all live in God’s temple of creation, yet we too often fail to recognize God’s voice.

Perhaps we don’t recognize God’s voice because we expect it to sound a certain way. When I was assigned to be the voice of God in our Pentecost vigil this year for the reading of the dry bones from Ezekiel, I reflexively used a deep, booming voice (although, to be fair, the reading was dramatic: “Summon the winds from the four corners of the earth! Tell it to breathe life into these dry bones!”) Still, what gave me the idea that God’s voice is masculine and commanding? If that is the God I expect to hear, am I missing the still, small voice that God used to speak to the prophet Elijah in his cave?

We also may not recognize that God is speaking to us because we feel too insignificant to be visited by God. However, because of the very fact that we were created by God, we cannot be insignificant! If we expand our concept of God to that of Mother who nurtured us and spoke to us in the womb, then we will surely realize that we are already familiar with God, as we are familiar with our human mother’s voice.

The advice that wise old Eli gave to Samuel applies to us all: When we experience an unexpected call, we should say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” And then we should be quiet and attend to what we hear, trusting that we will be able to discern the voice of the One who loves us.