And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. So he arose and went to Eli, and said “Here I am, for you did call me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord had called the boy – 1 Samuel 3:8

The prophet, Samuel, was born to Hannah, a woman of great faith in God. Hannah was barren for a long time. At that time, for a married woman to be barren was a great shame. Hannah cried out to God for a son in the temple. The Lord heard her cries and gave her Samuel in whom she dedicated her son to the Lord for His service in the temple. After Samuel was weaned, Hannah took him to the house of the Lord to be reared by Eli, the priest of Israel. But Eli was not a godly leader. Corruption ruled in his household and his sons sinned against God in God’s house. God was displeased with Eli and his whole household was judged.

Samuel grew up in the temple serving God, seeing the hypocrisy of Eli’s household and their sins. God was watching over him. In 1 Samuel 3:7, the bible said that the word of the Lord was not revealed to him yet and he did not know the Lord personally then. This explained why God called Samuel three times and yet Samuel did not recognize the voice of God. When Eli realized that it was God calling Samuel, he told Samuel to say, “Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears” (1 Samuel 3:9). Samuel obeyed and when he answered God, God revealed to Samuel the important things to come.

Many of us grow up in religious environments. We go for bible-study in the church. We faithfully attend church week after week. We listen to the preacher preached a great sermon. We have a head of knowledge of God. We know all we need to know what the Bible contains. And yet, we fail to recognize God’s voice in our lives, in our works, in our family, in everything we do. There will come a time when we desire to hear God’s voice and to recognize it among all the noises in our heads. The time will come when we want to seek God and hear what God has to say about the matters in our hearts.

Samuel was not able to recognize God’s voice because the Bible said he did not know God. But when Samuel built a personal relationship with God, he was never the same again. God does not want a religion from us. God wants our hearts and our desires for Him. He wants to build a two-way relationship with us. The condition is hearing God’s voice is to build a personal relationship with Him just as you would have built a personal relationship with your spouse, a close friend or a confidante.