By PASTOR MARK MOLINA
Living Waters Church
Pastor Mark Molina
When God calls us what does it look like? Is His call to a place of greatness? Will we hear the heavens roar with thunder?! Will it be so clear to us that we will immediately know it is God’s voice that we hear? Or will we need to ask for help from others in understanding what is happening?
“Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD before Eli. And word from the LORD was rare in those days, visions were infrequent,” (1 Samuel 3:1 NASB). It is compelling that sometimes God will call us to a place where people have lost the ability to hear His voice. He may call us to a place where the people have also lost the ability to receive visions from Him. Maybe the word of the LORD was rare in those days because the leaders had no desire to hear His counsel.
“It happened at that time as Eli was lying down in his place (now his eyesight had begun to grow dim and he could not see well), and the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD where the ark of God was, that the LORD called Samuel; and he said, ‘Here I am,’” (1 Samuel 2:4 NASB).
Samuel, as a boy, was lying down where the Ark of God was. The Ark was the physical reminder of God’s presence with Israel. This is where the priest belonged. Yet the priest Eli had long lost his desire for the presence of God. The Word says that, “Eli was lying down in his place.” Eli had created an environment where he had become comfortable in a place separate from God.
“(Now his eyesight had begun to grow dim and he could not see well).” Eli had not only lost his physical vision to see things naturally, he had already lost his spiritual vision to see in the super natural. This can be a problem for anyone in ministry. We get to a place where the ritual of service becomes our guiding direction. The daily function of the office of ministry that we hold takes all of our time and energy instead giving it first to the one who called us to the ministry in the first place.
When the leader loses his passion for the things of God, God will begin to look for another leader. God is not looking for the same qualifications that we place on people today: a degree from a Seminary, Bible College, Bible Institute, School of Ministry, or otherwise. That is the burden we have chosen to place on one another. God has not changed one bit. He still looks for the one who is faithful, the one serving faithfully in the place He has sent them to. It’s in the faithfulness of obedience in service back to God that we can hear His voice. Men always look for talent in people that will help grow their ministry! God looks for character in people who will help Him grow the people in His church!
“Then he ran to Eli and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.’ But he said, ‘I did not call, lie down again.’” Here we see God calls Samuel for the first time. Remember, Samuel is only a boy. He is ministering before Eli to The Lord. Why is this important? Samuel’s age was not a problem for God; why was that? It is because Samuel was ministering faithfully. He was faithfully serving before his spiritual authority.
Spiritual authority is something we have come to despise in the church in North America. However, spiritual authority is never discounted in scripture. God has never removed this spiritual model for knowing Him and serving Him.
Do you want to hear the call of God? Then be willing to go to a place where the people have lost their vision. Go to that place of service. Be faithful in it, accountable to your spiritual authority. God is not looking at your qualifications. He is looking at your heart. This will be the place where you will hear God begin to call your name.
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