1 Samuel 3:1-10 (GW)
1 The boy Samuel was serving the LORD under Eli. In those days a prophecy from the LORD was rare; visions were infrequent.
2 One night Eli was lying down in his room. His eyesight had begun to fail so that he couldn’t see well.
3 The lamp in God’s temple hadn’t gone out yet, and Samuel was asleep in the temple of the LORD where the ark of God was kept.
4 Then the LORD called Samuel. “Here I am,” Samuel responded.
5 He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am. You called me.” “I didn’t call {you},” Eli replied. “Go back to bed.” So Samuel went back and lay down.
6 The LORD called Samuel again. Samuel got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am. You called me.” “I didn’t call {you}, son,” he responded. “Go back to bed.”
7 Samuel had no experience with the LORD, because the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.
8 The LORD called Samuel a third time. Samuel got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am. You called me.” Then Eli realized that the LORD was calling the boy.
9 “Go, lie down,” Eli told Samuel. “When he calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD. I’m listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his room.
10 The LORD came and stood there. He called as he had called the other times: “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel replied, “Speak. I’m listening.”

Whose voice are you hearing? God hopefully!
I always say the only one who knows what God’s voice sounds like is the ear listening and hearing from Him. Nobody can describe the voice of God to you-you know and recognise it.
Samuel was only a child when he first heard the Lord’s voice, he knew someone was calling but because he had no frame of reference, he deferred to his mentor, the only voice he’d heard and obeyed until Eli pointed Samuel to the “voice.”
We can always recognise the voice of loved ones when they call out from anywhere, we don’t mistake them for someone else-sometimes, we even say some stranger sounds like a loved one. But nobody else sounds like God.
According to Psalm 93:4, God’s voice is like the sound of many waters and mighty, what can equal that sound? Nothing!
Samuel heard the voice of God but did not recognize it. Gideon had a physical revelation from God, and he still doubted what he had heard to the point of asking for a sign three times in Judges 6:17–22,36–40.
How can we know that God is the one speaking? We have the complete Bible, the inspired Word of God, to read, study, and meditate on in 2 Timothy 3:16–17.
How many of us are like Samuel? Sitting in church but not hearing God’s voice, some hear but rather than answer chose to go to “mentors” to help them hear or understand what the Lord is saying.
Or like Gideon, we keep testing and retesting to make sure that the voice we heard is the Lord’s.
To hear God’s voice though, we must belong to God. Jesus said, “only His sheep hears His voice; in John 10:27. Those who hear God’s voice are those who belong to Him—those who have been saved by His grace through faith.
Samuel needed an external voice to tell him to listen and answer the Lord’s voice, do you also require an external voice to confirm what the Lord has said to you in the secret?
Most of us have become too accustomed to hearing other voices like Samuel was to hearing Eli’s voice; therefore, when God called him, it sounded like Eli.
But God wants us to listen to Him, so He speaks to us through a voice that we will recognize. Sometimes it may sound like our voice; sometimes it may sound like the voice of someone we know. But no matter what voice the Lord uses to gain your attention or speak to you, remember that His voice is mighty according to Psalm 68:3 and will always bring peace when He speaks to us.
God’s voice mostly resounds from the pages of the bible unto the pages of our hearts, but we must have a listening ear to hear Him speak.
Psalm 29:3-9 tell us all about the power and might of the voice of God-His voice is full of majesty.
When we get intimate and familiar with the Lord, we easily recognise His voice and can discount every other voice clamouring for our attention.
God is always speaking, but are you listening and paying attention? Declares Job 33:14.
The voice of God is clear and peaceful.
Shalom