What voices do you give your time to?
What messengers do you give your attention and energy to?
Because there are a lot of voices and messengers seeking you.
All we have to do is turn on the TV. We are in the midst of election season and, there are definitely voices and messengers who want your time, attention, and energy.
Every commercial or ad in a magazine is something calling out to you.
Even the algorithms on our social media reach out to us with ads for Dutch ovens and influencers cooking with them when we had just been talking about getting one the other day.
Now, what you give your time, attention, and energy to is a question we will each answer in our own way. But I believe, in the midst of all the noise out there, there is a voice reaching out to us, inviting us, calling to us. A voice that is always worth our time, energy, and heart.
“Samuel,” that voice called out thousands of years ago.
And Samuel goes to the only other person nearby, “Here I Am, Here I am, you called to me.”
And Eli, who did not call him, was like, “go back and lie down.”
Three times Samuel hears his own name, goes to the only other person around, and two times Eli is like, go back and lay down. But the third time, Eli senses something. Something else is going on. Eli realizes there is a voice calling out to Samuel, a voice he should respond to. The third time Eli says, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’
Thankfully, the Lord is persistent, and came again, calling out, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ To which Samuel replied, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening.’
Samuel, who would become a prophet. Samuel, who would eventually anoint David, the David, as King.
But first, first, Samuel needed to recognize and respond, ‘Here I am. Speak, your servant is listening.’
God, is a God of love, strength, and care. A God of abundance who makes a home within our hearts. As Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus, God “can do…things greater than we ever could ask or imagine through the power at work within us.” And that God, calls out to you. That God calls out to you, to our church, to systems and organizations, wanting connection, wanting to work with us, to partner with us.
Look, y’all, what we say, Here I am, to matters. You are precious and unique. You were put on this earth, formed in love, for a holy purpose. To be you. To love. To make a difference. And of all the things that call out to us, political ads, social media ads, commercials. Of all the things that call out to us, I definitely know one that is worthy of you. Worth responding to with, Here I am.
God strengthen us, fills our souls with the power of the spirit and, in that flood, calls out to us, invites us to be a part of things greater than we ever could ask or imagine. The God of all creation calls out to you. What will be your response?