“Here I Am” - Samuel’s Obedience

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May 10, 2026

Scripture Referenced

Recap

A Mother’s Day message that started, fittingly, with Samuel’s mother Hannah before landing in 1 Samuel 3. The backdrop matters: this was a spiritually dark stretch in Israel’s history, “every man did right in his own eyes,” and messages from God were rare. Into that silence, young Samuel (serving in the tabernacle under the aging priest Eli) hears his name called in the night, three times, and three times runs to Eli assuming it’s him. Only on the third time does Eli realize it’s God calling, and coaches Samuel on how to respond.

The phrase that gave the message its title, and the one point the room was asked to actually take home, was Samuel’s answer once he understood who was speaking: “Speak, for your servant is listening.” Not “I’m here to tell you what I need,” but a posture of listening first. The teaching pushed past a quick word-study into a heart posture: showing up ready to hear, before you’ve decided what you want to say back.

The challenge for the room was to let “here I am, Lord, your servant is listening” become an actual, regular phrase in personal prayer: not a one-time dramatic moment reserved for a burning bush, but a posture available in the ordinary quiet of any night, the way it was for a boy who didn’t even recognize God’s voice yet.

Touch Points

1. When you pray, are you usually listening first, or already talking?
2. Like Samuel, is there a way God might be calling you that you haven’t recognized yet because you don’t have a category for it?
3. What would it look like to actually say “speak, I’m listening” the next time you sit down to pray?
4. Who in your life, like Eli for Samuel, has helped you recognize God’s voice when you couldn’t place it yourself?

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