The Thistle - An E-Newsletter of Scotch College, Perth, Western Australia

Chaplain's Reflections

 'Samuel, Samuel!'  And Samuel said: 'Speak Lord, your servant is listening.' (1 Samuel 3:10)

Discerning God's guidance is seldom easy.  Three times God calls to Samuel and each time he thinks it is the high priest Eli calling him.  After being awoken each time by the boy, Eli realises that the voice must be God's, so tells Samuel to go back to bed and the next time he hears the voice to say: 'Speak Lord, your servant is listening.'

Few can claim to have heard God speak to them audibly.  So how do we receive guidance from God?  Should we go this way or that?  Do this or do that?  Sometimes doors open while others are firmly shut in our faces.  We confide in people we trust; we pray; we examine situational cues; but when all is said and done, we chose a path, hoping and believing that God is there, waiting for us.

I have always found great comfort in the words of the late Billy Graham: 'The will of God will not take us where the grace of God cannot sustain us'.