When taking some college classes several years ago, a couple of them were distance learning. This meant that myself and a couple other students were in a classroom at our local high school and the teacher was in his classroom at the college 60 miles away. We had never met this teacher, never taken distance learning classs and no one was there to assist us for that first class. We were lost. But then we saw someone on screen....we didn’t recognize him and we didn’t know what to say. We gave a tentative hello, but no response. It looked like he was speaking and gesturing with his hands, we gave another hello? No response. I swear his look said “I have to teach these idiots?” Finally he gestured and we understood, “You have to turn on the mic on your side.” Ohhhh....teehee.
Someone had come before we got there and set up all the equipment we would need; but not wanting our before-class chatter to be broadcast to the other sites, left the microphone off. On the mic was a note....”Turn on when class starts”. 🤦🏼♀️
We weren’t looking for directions, we assumed our great teacher would just guide us. But how can he guide us if we can’t hear him or know who he is?
Reading these verses in Samuel today made me think of this time in the classroom. Samuel didn’t know his Teacher either. He didn’t recognize His voice because as it says in verse 7, “The word had not been revealed to him.”
The Word has been revealed to us but like us students needing to look for directions to turn on the mic, we Christians need to look to the Word for directions also. How can we recognize his voice when He comes calling if we are like Samuel and don’t know the Word. Just like the school had provided the equipment and directions, God too has provided us the equipment and directions we need to do His calling.
But what if, when our teacher had come on screen, we just ignored him and continued talking amongst ourselves? We hadn’t ever met him, so we didn’t know if that was him or not. But he had a commanding sort of presence that made us aware of him, like the angel who appeared to Gideon in Judges 6:11-12. Gideon was made aware that He was in presence of the angel of the Lord. Eli made Samuel aware He was in the presence of the Lord. Priscilla Shirer in her bible study Gideon says “We must be aware of His presence before we can know His purpose”. #lessonsfromGideon
God didn’t blow a trumpet or send a great sign to let these men know He was there. He just made them aware. So be prepared, know your Teacher, know His Word and listen.....you don’t want to miss what He has to say!
Lord I pray today that I will be aware of your presence and will know your voice so that I can know your purpose.
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