Listening to God

Now it is through praying to God that we come to know what we ought to have and ought to be.  We may start off by thinking that God ought to give us this and do that, but after a time we begin to see that God thinks very differently and we find ourselves coming round to his point of view and praying for what he really wants to give us.  For in prayer we not only talk to God but he also talks to us by putting his thoughts into our minds.  It is like an escalator working on an endless belt.  The only steps that go up to the top are the ones that have come down unseen from the top.  So the only prayers that God will answer are the ones which he himself has given us to pray.  Therefore we should be like the child Samuel who, when he heard God’s voice calling him in the shrine at Shiloh, said, “Speak, for your servant is listening” (NRSV, 1 Samuel: 3,10).  We should not behave as if we have nothing to learn from God and take up the attitude, “Listen, for your servant is speaking”. (1)