How do we hear from God? I want to illustrate this with Samuel’s story in the Bible (1 Sam. 1:1–3:21).

Hannah didn’t have any children, and she longed for a child. She prayed fervently, “God, if You’ll just give me a son, I’ll dedicate him to You all the days of his life. I’ll bring him to the temple and give him to You.”

That’s what happened. When Samuel was old enough, he was brought to the temple of God. He grew up there and was trained by Eli, the priest. Samuel learned three things that prepared him to listen to the voice of God. And these three things will help us hear the Lord as well.

1. Samuel was practicing his purpose. What was his purpose? He faithfully served the Lord by assisting Eli. He was doing everything he needed to do and everything he knew to do by serving in the temple. Now, even before Samuel was born, just as before we were born, God had a plan.

In Jeremiah 29:11, it says, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster’” (NLT). God had plans for Samuel, and God has plans for us. You might be thinking, “Well, Samuel knew the plans God had for him. I don’t have a clue what He has for me.” Think again.

Samuel didn’t know the whole story. He didn’t know that God would make him a great prophet and judge over Israel. All he knew was that he was to be in the house of God and serve Eli. Therefore, he faithfully did what he knew to do.

Many times in our lives, we’re so focused on the future that we’re not fulfilling the purpose God has for us right now. God is not going to give us our whole life plan. Usually, He only gives us a two-month or a three-month plan. He doesn’t tell us the whole story.

2. Samuel was in the proper position. In First Samuel 3:2–7, we read that the Lord called Samuel repeatedly one night. Every time the young boy rushed to Eli, thinking he had summoned him. Every time the priest sent the boy back to bed.

1 SAMUEL 3:8–10 (NLT):

8 So the Lord called a third time, and once more Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?”

Then Eli realized it was the Lord who was calling the boy.

9 So he said to Samuel, “Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went back to bed.

10 And the Lord came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!”

And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening.”

It was nighttime. It was quiet. There were no distractions. In that environment, Samuel was in the proper position to hear from God. In order to hear from God, we have to  get rid of distractions and ‘declutter’ our lives. We need to evaluate what distracts us from hearing the Lord.

In Psalm 46:10, we read, “Be still, and know that I am God.” Most of us are not comfortable with quietness. We want noise all around us instead. The Lord can speak above the noise, but so many times, we just have to be still.

3. Samuel was in the proper place. He was close to God. Hebrews 12:1 instructs us to “ . . . lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us.” All of our weights and sins can put us in an improper place to hear from God. Having them in our lives is like putting earplugs in our spiritual ears. We can’t hear from God that way. Weight and sin deafen our hearts to His voice. And if we’re not careful, all of a sudden, God doesn’t speak to us at all because we’re too far from Him.

Anything but close to God is too far away. In our relationship with the Lord, we must be like David, who wrote, “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.  My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God” (Ps. 42:1–2).