“Now the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ And Samuel answered, ‘Speak, for Your servant hears.'” I Samuel 3:10 NKJV
I’d imagine that many reading this have no idea who Paul Marcarelli is, but many of you actually know of him. In 2002, he debuted as the Test Man in the Verizon commercials. He would travel to various locations and test the reliability of the Verizon network. His catchphrase, “Can you hear me now? Good!”, became wildly popular. He’s actually moved on to work for Sprint now, but his main goal still remains being able to rely on his cellular network.
I thought of Paul and his commercials as I was studying the passage above. This is taken from I Samuel 3, and it tells of something interesting that happened to Samuel and the priest Eli as they slept one night. God began calling Samuel’s name. Samuel got out of bed and ran to Eli’s room and asked what he wanted. Eli assured Samuel that he had not called Samuel. This happened three times, before Eli finally realized what was going on. He told Samuel to go back to bed and when it happened again to speak to the Lord. I wonder how many times this has happened to us. The Lord may indeed be calling us to do a work, but we remain so busy listening to other “voices” that we miss the Lord’s. Our lives are so fast-paced that even when we “rest” we’re still not really listening. I encourage us all to slow down, and listen for the “still small voice” (I Kings 19:11-12). God had a great work for Samuel (he was the prophet who anointed David). And He may have a great work for you. So let us not leave Him wondering about us as Paul Marcarelli does – “Can you hear Me now?”