13 February 2026

Entering the silence of God and listening to his Word has a very important consequence. It helps us to listen to others and to speak words which have come from his heart. Both Eli and Samuel were men of prayer and the words which they spoke had their home in the silence of God. They each illustrate a different dimension of this.

When Eli heard Samuel’s prophecy about the destruction of  his own family. He simply said, ‘It is the Lord; let him do what seems good to him.’ He made no attempt to justify himself nor his family.  No amount of words could change the truth of this situation. His relationship with God gave him the self-control not to say any more than needed to be said.

When Samuel grew up, he spoke to the people and the writer says, ‘All Israel listened.’ The words which he spoke were powerful precisely because they came from God. In order to speak, Samuel had to listen and in listening to God, he discovered the right words to speak on every occasion. Would that all our words had this beginning!

Eli was a man of few words and Samuel was a man whose words were listened to by everyone. These are the people we want to hear because their words are born out of the silence of God. As the Taoist philosopher puts it:

‘The purpose of a rabbit snare is to catch rabbits. When the rabbits are caught, the snare is forgotten. The purpose of the word is to convey ideas. When the ideas are grasped, the words are forgotten. Where can I find a man who has forgotten words? He is the one I would like to talk to!’