Have you seen the commercial for a certain sleep aid . . .

Have you seen the commercial for a certain sleep aid that shows a husband flicking on the light in the middle of the night and saying, “Honey?  Are you awake?”  To which she groggily responds, “Well, I am now!”  Every time I see that commercial, I think of the story of Eli and Samuel.

Samuel is a young boy working in the Temple for an elderly priest named Eli.  In the late hours, after everybody has gone to sleep, Samuel hears his name being called.  Assuming that it’s Eli who is calling for him, he goes rushing to the old priest’s bedside, “Here I am.  Are you awake?”  To which Eli groggily responds, “Well, I am now!  What do you want?  I didn’t call for you.  Go back to sleep, kid, you’re hearing things.”

The same scene repeats itself a second time, and even a third time, before Eli realizes that it’s the Lord who is calling out for Samuel.  And so, he tells the young boy to go lie down, and if he hears the voice again he is to say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”

Now, it could be that the reason Samuel finds this whole experience so unsettling is because “the word of the Lord was rare in those days,” and he never imagined that God would come a’ calling.  But the other possibility is that most of us don’t expect a visit from the Almighty in the middle of the night, when we’re safely tucked beneath the covers, enjoying our own personal space?  Sure, we’re ready for God to speak to us on Sunday mornings, when we’re all scrubbed up and on our best behavior.  But are we really prepared for a God who will just show up, unannounced, at any given moment—even those personal moments when we’re alone in our innermost thoughts?

The answer may depend on how you view God.  If you see God as a stern, no-nonsense, judgmental kind of God, then you probably aren’t thrilled about the Lord snooping around the hidden closets of your private life.  However, if you view God as a caring, attentive, love-you-no-matter-what kind of God, then when the Lord calls out—even if it’s in the middle of the night—and asks, “Are you awake?” you won’t groggily respond, “Well, I am now!  Thanks a lot.”  Instead, you will answer, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”