A Holy Spirit Hunch
- The Narrow Path
- Aug 26, 2022
- 3 min read
And the Lord came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:10, NLT).
I sat in my car this morning, ready to head to my favorite coffee shop to get some writing done. For a reason unbeknownst to me at the time, I felt a nudge to take a quick look in the mirror. I felt the Holy Spirit say, “Go back inside, and at least put some mascara on. You never know who you’ll run into while you’re out.” I think it was the Holy Spirit, but it also could have been the voice of my mother, who occasionally reminds me that “a little mascara makes all the difference.” Eventually, I turned my car off and ran back into the house to follow this hunch.
Moments later, after applying a little mascara, I was ready to head back out the door. I suddenly realized that I never packed my laptop to take with me to the coffee shop! I laughed to myself and said, “Thank you, Lord!” Although my mom is right about the mascara, the nudge had never been about make-up at all. Even though I definitely didn’t understand it in the moment, had I not been obedient to this Holy Spirit hunch, I would have driven the entire way without the one item I had to have in order to get some writing done.
One of my favorite Bible stories tells us about an experience of learning to recognize and, more importantly, opening our hearts to God’s voice. Read 1 Samuel 3:1-10 below:
Meanwhile, the boy Samuel served the Lord by assisting Eli. Now in those days messages from the Lord were very rare, and visions were quite uncommon. One night Eli, who was almost blind by now, had gone to bed. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was sleeping in the Tabernacle near the Ark of God. Suddenly the Lord called out, “Samuel!” “Yes?” Samuel replied. “What is it?” He got up and ran to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?” “I didn’t call you,” Eli replied. “Go back to bed.” So he did. Then the Lord called out again, “Samuel!” Again Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?” “I didn’t call you, my son,” Eli said. “Go back to bed.” Samuel did not yet know the Lord because he had never had a message from the Lord before. So the Lord called a third time, and once more Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?” Then Eli realized it was the Lord who was calling the boy. So he said to Samuel, “Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.” So Samuel went back to bed. And the Lord came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening.”
We are all Samuel. Our minds and hearts are constantly flooded with different voices, and we must be intentional to learn the voice of the Lord. I call them nudges. A good friend of mine calls them hunches. You may call it something else. Whatever your word, learning to discern the voice of the Lord is critically important.
Like me this morning, the Lord may speak in one way in order to reveal something totally different. Regardless, the moments when you feel like the Holy Spirit is speaking should be held with significant weight. Though we can’t be 100% confident that what we are hearing is from the Lord, through experience, repetition, and guidance from Christ-like friends, we can learn, like Samuel, to lean into the voice of the Holy Spirit and allow that to be our guide.
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