“Now the LORD came and stood there, calling as before, ‘Samuel! Samuel! And Samuel said “Speak, for your servant is listening.”–1 Samuel 3:10

Have you ever heard God speak to you?  Long ago, a boy named Samuel, came to realize that the voice at bedtime was none other than the Almighty.  Generations earlier, Moses stopped to look at a bush that was aflame yet unconsumed and began a conversation with One who would empower him to stand up to Pharaoh. Centuries later, at the moment of baptism, Jesus heard the voice of his father from the clouds offering encouragement that he was beloved and on the right track in starting his earthly ministry.  Perhaps you’ve had times like that.  I have not. 

My decision to become a pastor arose not because of a moment God told me out loud or in a dream that I was to leave my employment with the Bell System. A sister-in-law once said she thought it fitting that I was working for the phone company when I received “the call,” but my vocation change came about through the voices of ordinary people who confirmed my instinct. Yet there have been other times when I received a message from my Creator. 

The most recent one occurred in September of last year when my sister and her husband, Lori and I set out on our first post-retirement trip. We journeyed to New Mexico, beginning with a stop in Gallup.  The congregation I served in Pennsylvania has a vibrant and long-standing partnership with the Community Pantry in that city. I had accompanied folks from the church on a work trip a decade earlier, but Lori had never seen it and wanted to experience it first-hand.

On that day, we started with a health screening at a nearby school where we supported nursing students from the University of New Mexico who were checking the height and weight, vision and hearing of students.  We then returned to Gallup where Hilda, the Chief Executive Officer, gave us a detailed overview into the vital work of the Pantry.  We felt pride in seeing a wall that celebrated significant donors including our own body of faith. We listened with awe as Hilda spoke of the diverse ways she acquires food for their clients–from local grocery stores and overturned tractor trailers, government programs and an onsite garden that raises healthy produce.  The four of us took it all in and then returned to our hotel to prepare for dinner.

Once in our room, Lori and I were quiet for a second until one of us said “Something happened to me while we were at the Pantry.” “I felt the same way,” the other replied. Neither of us had mentioned it during the tour, but we both had this clear sense that we needed to come back and volunteer our time with that organization.  Before we left Gallup, we booked our return flight, knowing that if we waited until we returned home we might minimize the clear sense of rightness and divine leading that had touched us.  Truthfully, we were also motivated by the fact that the airline we would use was running a 50% off sale that would expire in 48 hours.  The divine ways are multi-faceted!  The only voices we heard were human, but we knew without a doubt that God was beckoning us back.

That sort of thing doesn’t happen every day, but such occasions are among the ways our Maker speaks still.  Thus, I invite you to look back on times in your own life when you felt an otherwise-unexplainable nudge to act. Or, you can take the words of a boy from the past to become your own–“Speak, for your servant is listening”–and simply see what happens next.     

All-Wise One, thank you for the diverse ways you continue to speak to us even without  words.  Give us ears to listen and wisdom to know when it is you.  Amen.