Send Out Your Light: A 5-Day Plan With Sandra MccrackenSample

DAY 5: Wake Up to Send Out Your Light

In 1 Samuel, God calls praise from the lips of a little boy named Samuel. Samuel is a special child: long-awaited, prayed for, and given to the service of the Lord. Before he becomes a mighty priest and prophet, he’s a little boy who has just moved out of his mother’s arms and into a new life in the temple. His mother, Hannah, who had longed for him, prayed for him in earnest. 

And now he’s here with his whole life beginning and with learning the life of the priesthood. In the middle of the night, on one of his first nights in this new place, God calls him three times by name. The first two times, Samuel runs to Eli, the priest, trying to figure out who is calling him. The third time, Eli explains that it is God’s voice calling him. And Eli directs him to listen and to hear God’s voice. 

Sometimes I’m like little Samuel, unfamiliar with the sound of God’s voice and barely awake. I keep running to answer someone else by mistake. And sometimes I’m like Eli, the priest who is in the next room, helping to direct someone else to hear and to answer their own call. 

As for Samuel, his listening life goes on a long time, recorded in the pages of 1 and 2 Samuel. Samuel heard and gave voice to God’s voice in the service of the King. The voices we hear and attend to make the difference between a life of frenetic energy and a life of quiet reception. When Samuel sat still and listened, God’s voice spoke to him right there where he was. 

The call we hear and how we reply is the very essence of our spiritual life. You don’t have to be a monk; you don’t even have to be “religious.” You just have to be receptive. And this, too, is a gift.

“Send out your light” is the beginning of the story even when it happens in the middle of the story. Even our anger can be woven into his good purposes. It’s the call, the need, and the voice that wakes you up in the night. God has a purpose and a plan for your life. And sometimes He has to get us out of bed so we can pay attention to it.

We hope this plan encouraged you. Learn more at sendoutyourlight.com.