Forever Holy

"Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening." (I Samuel 3:9)  When these words were first given to Samuel by his spiritual mentor, Eli, they were words for a specific moment in the life of the young boy.  Eli became aware that the Lord was seeking to say a Word to Samuel and Eli knew Samuel needed to be attentive.  Though the centuries these words have shaped a prayer prayed by many a soul who sought to hear what the Voice of God was saying. 

 

However, to think of these words as words for specific moments in our living is to lay aside an important aid in our spiritual life.  Instead of thinking of this prayer as useful only for the moment, think of it as a prayer useful for the journey.  We sometimes talk about making sure we smell the coffee or the roses as we go through life, but how much more valuable it is to live with an attitude which keeps us constantly aware that God is about to speak.  Imagine a day being lived on the edge, waiting and expecting for the Voice of God to be whispered in our inner being. 

 

Such an expectation would change everything and everyone around us.  Every single thing we saw would be seen as something which might possibly be used by God to speak a Word to us.  Every single person who stands alongside of us might suddenly become the Voice of God.  God is forever speaking.  Sometimes we know the Voice as it comes to us in the night as it did with Samuel.  Sometimes it is overpowering as it was with Saul on the Damascus Road.  And sometimes, the One who has no Voice speaks His Voice in the most common things of earth making them forever holy in our memory.