Habituation

To habituate is to become accustomed to something. For instance, when I was seven years old, our house was situated next to a railroad track. The trains traveled by quite often during the day. The floor would tremble and the clickety-clack of the cars passing by soon became an ordinary sound. I became accustomed to the noise. It was part of everyday living and really quite ordinary. I could sleep without waking, even though the engineer would blow the whistle as a warning before reaching a cross road. I heard the train so much that I had become habituated to its presence.

Have you ever had such an experience? What about your spiritual life? Have you prayed for something and not received an answer? Or have you become habituated to God's voice? God speaks clearly to us if we listen.

When Samuel was a young boy, his mother took him to he house of the Lord at Shiloh. There Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli's tutelage. One night the Lord came to the temple and called Samuel. Samuel though Eli had spoken and went to where the old man slept and said, "Here I am; you called me." Eli told him he had not called and ordered him to lay back down and sleep. After the third time the Lord called Samuel, Eli realized what had happened. He told Samuel that if God called again to answer, "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening." Samuel did as he had been instructed, and the Lord revealed what he was about to do. The Lord was with Samuel from that day forward and all Israel eventually recognized the Samuel was a prophet of the Lord.

Sometimes we become so busy with our lives that we forget to stop and spend time speaking and listening to God's word. Today, I pray for you, dear readers, that eyes might be opened to the answers contained within the Bible, and that you ears will be opened to hear God's word.

Read: 1 Samuel 3:1-21