Listen To Him

Aug 09, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: When God Goes Silent, Where Do You Turn?

Saul’s desperation reveals a chilling truth: disobedience doesn’t just distance us from God—it deafens us to His voice. When Saul faced silence, he sought answers in forbidden places, trading divine guidance for dark shortcuts. His story warns that every step away from obedience is a step toward counterfeit solutions. God’s silence isn’t abandonment; it’s an invitation to examine where we’ve stopped listening. The real danger isn’t the enemy’s traps but our willingness to wander into them. [07:07]

“When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid; terror filled his heart. He inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets.”
(1 Samuel 28:6-7, NIV)

Reflection: Where have you substituted God’s voice with quick fixes or worldly wisdom? How might His current silence be calling you back to obedience?

Day 2: Raising Rebels or Raising Reverence?

Isaac and Rebecca’s favoritism didn’t just fracture their family—it taught their sons to distrust God’s promises. By prioritizing personal preferences over divine purpose, they raised Jacob to scheme and Esau to resent. Parenting isn’t about molding children into our image but pointing them to God’s revelation. Every divided loyalty in our homes becomes a lesson in missing the point. [14:06]

“The Lord said to her, ‘Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.’”
(Genesis 25:23, NIV)

Reflection: What family patterns or preferences might be overshadowing God’s unique purpose for your children? How can you model trust in His timing this week?

Day 3: Soup, Swindles, and the Cost of Impatience

Jacob’s stew pot symbolizes our temptation to force God’s promises. He traded a divine birthright for momentary satisfaction, mirroring how we often sabotage blessings through impatience. Stealing what God already promised reveals distrust in His timing. Our shortcuts create messes; His timing builds legacies. [13:06]

“Jacob replied, ‘First sell me your birthright.’ ‘Look, I am about to die,’ Esau said. ‘What good is the birthright to me?’”
(Genesis 25:31-32, NIV)

Reflection: What “birthright” are you risking for immediate relief? Where is God asking you to wait instead of wrestle?

Day 4: Turbulence and the Voice That Guides Home

The panicked pilot’s story mirrors our spiritual crises: in storms, we must choose between human instinct and heavenly instruction. God’s voice often contradicts our feelings—He sees the mountain we’re about to hit. Trusting Him means obeying even when His directions feel counterintuitive. [26:42]

“Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.”
(Psalm 91:1, NIV)

Reflection: What current “storm” makes God’s guidance feel illogical? What one step of obedience have you resisted because it defies your instincts?

Day 5: Grace When Parenting Feels Like Failure

Isaac and Rebecca’s blunders didn’t nullify God’s plan—Jacob still became Israel. Our mistakes as parents can’t outrun His redemption. God works through imperfect people to perfect His purposes. Our job isn’t flawlessness but faithfulness. [16:33]

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
(Romans 8:28, NIV)

Reflection: Where have you felt your parenting failures disqualify God’s promises? How can you rest in His ability to redeem your “Isaac and Rebecca moments”?

Sermon Summary

The call to hear the Lord comes with real weight, because wrong places usually do not start with one bad decision. First Samuel 28 shows Saul surrounded by the Philistines, without Samuel, without obedience, and without the voice of God clear in his life. Saul’s fall did not happen because he went to a witch. Saul went to a witch because he had already turned away from the Lord.

The warning is plain: when God’s voice gets rejected long enough, forbidden voices start sounding useful. Social media, ungodly counsel, personal feelings, and counterfeit answers all get louder when the Lord is no longer the main voice. God calls his people to seek him, not counterfeits, because the enemy still comes to kill, steal, and destroy. The fault does not belong to God when a soul ends up in the wrong place after walking away from obedience.

Genesis 25 gives the same truth inside a family. The word over Rebecca’s womb was clear: two nations were there, and the older would serve the younger. Isaac favored Esau because Esau was rugged and knew how to hunt, and Rebecca favored Jacob because Jacob stayed around the tents. Their house became full of striving because the parents followed emotions, feelings, and preferences instead of training their sons to trust God’s revelation, God’s will, and God’s plan.

Jacob did not need to scheme for a birthright that God had already spoken over him. Esau did not need to despise what God had placed on his life. The family should have been taught to wait on the Lord, because God still had a plan for both sons. Even then, God’s grace still overflowed the mess, because out of Jacob came the twelve tribes and the promise kept moving.

Psalm 91 says the one who dwells in the secret place abides under the shadow of the Almighty. The secret place is not a visit once in a while. The secret place is a dwelling, and obedience is how a life stays there. When obedience keeps a person close, God is not hard to find. A soul just turns, and there he is.

The airplane story makes the point plain: a man in the clouds, with a passed-out pilot and mountains ahead, had to listen to the voice that could get him home. Feelings lied to him, storms shook him, and fear pressed him, but the voice kept guiding him. The Word of God is that voice. The good Shepherd still gets his sheep home.

Key Takeaways

1. Disobedience sends people to counterfeits. Saul did not lose God’s favor because he visited a forbidden place. The forbidden place became attractive because disobedience had already dulled his ear to the Lord. A heart that quits listening to God will eventually go looking for help where God said not to look. [06:23]
2. Children must trust God’s revelation. Genesis 25 shows a family that had a clear word from God but raised children around preference instead of promise. Jacob’s scheming and Esau’s bitterness grew in a home where God’s plan was not trusted out loud. Parents do more than manage behavior when they train children to wait on what God has spoken. [14:06]
3. The secret place is obedience. Psalm 91 does not describe a casual visit with God, but a dwelling place under his shadow. The secret place becomes accessible through obedience, not religious talk or occasional desire. A life that stays near the Lord does not have to panic and search, because his voice remains close. [20:41]
4. Feelings can lie under pressure. The man in the plane felt like he was turning the right way, but the voice on the radio knew he was headed toward a mountain. Pressure can make instinct feel trustworthy while it quietly carries a soul into danger. God’s Word must become louder than panic, fear, and the body’s false signals. [26:42]
5. God gives a voice home. The voice from the tower did not remove every storm, but it guided the plane through the storm. God’s voice does not always make the way smooth, but it does make the way safe. The sheep that keep hearing the Shepherd are not abandoned in the clouds. [28:48]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[01:09] - Saul Stops Hearing God
[02:41] - Saul Seeks a Forbidden Voice
[04:58] - Disobedience Brings Loss
[06:23] - Wrong Places Follow Turning Away
[09:22] - Two Nations in Rebecca’s Womb
[11:25] - Favoritism Divides the Family
[14:06] - Training Children to Trust God
[16:33] - Grace Overflows Parental Failure
[19:54] - Dwelling in the Secret Place
[23:15] - The Plane and the Voice
[26:17] - Listening Before the Mountain
[27:23] - Through the Storm by the Voice
[28:48] - God Gets His People Home
[30:34] - Prayer to Hear His Voice

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

1 Samuel 28
The entire chapter details King Saul's consultation with the witch of Endor after God had ceased answering him due to his disobedience. It serves as a warning that turning away from God leads to seeking forbidden sources of guidance. [01:09] [02:41] [06:23]

Genesis 25:23
“And the Lord said to her, ‘Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.’” [09:22] [09:31]

Psalm 91:1
“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.” [19:54] [20:41]

Observation questions

In Saul’s story, what happened before he went looking for a medium, and what does that show about how he got into that situation? [06:23]
In Genesis 25:23, what had God already spoken over Esau and Jacob before they were born?
What kinds of favoritism and division showed up in Isaac and Rebecca’s family, and how did that shape the relationship between Esau and Jacob? [11:25]
In Psalm 91:1, what word shows that life with God is meant to be ongoing and not occasional? [20:41]

Interpretation questions

Saul sought a forbidden voice after long disobedience. Why do forbidden or counterfeit voices often start sounding reasonable when a person has stopped listening to God? [07:50]
God had already spoken a clear word over Jacob and Esau. What does their family story show about what can happen when parents lead more by preference and emotion than by God’s revealed will? [13:50]
Jacob did not need to scheme for what God had already spoken. What does that suggest about the difference between trusting God’s promise and trying to force God’s plan by human effort? [15:09]
Psalm 91 speaks about dwelling in the secret place. What does it mean to connect that secret place with obedience, and how does that change the way someone thinks about hearing God’s voice? [22:00]

Application questions

When pressure rises, what counterfeit voices tend to get louder in real life—social media, fear, friends, personal feelings, old habits? Which one is most likely to pull the group away from clear obedience right now? [07:59]
Are there any areas where someone may be asking God for direction while also resisting something he has already made clear? What would repentance and renewed obedience look like in that area? [22:51]
Many families drift into favoritism, comparison, or reacting by emotion. Where might that show up at home—in how children are corrected, praised, compared, or understood? What would it look like to lead more by God’s truth than by personal preference? [14:22]
Jacob should have waited for the Lord instead of forcing the outcome. Where is the temptation right now to manipulate, rush, pressure, or “make it happen” instead of trusting God’s timing? [15:32]
The secret place is a dwelling place, not a quick visit. What habits help a person actually stay near the Lord through the week? What habits usually pull that person away? [21:16]
Feelings can lie under pressure. Can the group name a time when fear, panic, or strong emotion made something feel right that was actually dangerous or unwise? How can God’s Word become louder in moments like that? [26:42]
God gives a voice home. For someone who feels confused, overwhelmed, or “in the clouds” right now, what would it look like this week to slow down and listen for the Shepherd’s voice instead of reacting to the storm? [28:48]

Sermon Clips

48s

#DisobedienceLeadsAway

“``Saul did not turn away from God because he visited a psychic. He visited a psychic because he had already turned away from the Lord. I want you to remember that. This whole story is not because because first thing we wanna think, well, he lost his life, he lost the battle, he lost he lost he he lost his kingdom to David because he visited a medium, because he visited a psychic, because he visited he lost it because he found himself in the wrong place. No. He didn't lose favor with the Lord because he found himself in the wrong place. He found himself in the wrong place because he lost favor with the Lord, because he disobeyed the Lord.”

64s

#DwellInTheSecretPlace

“The secret place is when we obey him. You're walking through obedience. He who dwells, dwells, dwells. It doesn't say he who visited the secret place once a month, once every other month in the summertime. He who dwells, you have a dwelling. You have a house. You have a home. Somebody says, what's your address? You don't give it to him. That's where you live. That's where you dwell. If you don't dwell in the secret place, he's inacceptable to you. Where's the Lord? Where's the Lord? Where is he? How do we dwell there? Don't make it hard. How do you dwell there? You you walk in obedience. Trust in the Lord.”

51s

#TurnAndFindGod

“now it goes it goes from looking for God and wondering for where God is. It now it goes, you just turn and there he is. We don't need to look for God. We just need to turn and there he is. Why do we turn and there he is? Because we dwell in the secret place. I don't know how to parent. I don't know how to this marriage. I don't know about this job, business. I don't know what the will of God is. Just dwell where he dwells because if you're if you're walking in disobedience, he's inacceptable to you. That's why Saul lost contact with the Lord. It wasn't the Lord's fault. He's always in the secret place. You leave the secret place from disobedience.”

43s

#SeekGodNotCounterfeits

“When people reject God's voice long enough, we start searching for answers in places that God has forbidden. We'll go on social media. We'll listen to people that doesn't have the same standards that we have because we quit listening to the voice of God. We just quit listening to him and we we decide to put things in our own, you know, in our own strength, whatever whatever we think. God calls us to seek him, not counterfeits. If we choose to seek God's voice over every other voice, then God will be our guide.”

25s

#WaitOnTheLord

“Even when it gets hard, even when God gets quiet, we're still gonna wait on the Lord because he is gonna get us home. I don't know who that story is for today, but I was about to I took it out, I put it back in, I took it out, and I put it back in, and God has told me, he said, tell the story. Somebody needs to hear it right now. You're going through some stuff, but I'm telling you, God is speaking to him, listen to him, and he is gonna get you home.”

48s

#ListenNotToFeelings

“He said, now here's the thing. I need you to listen to me now. Okay? He says, okay. I got you. I got you. I got you. He says, you're heading straight towards a mountain. In six to seven minutes, you're gonna hit that mountain unless you listen to me. I need you to turn hard to the right. He said, The first thing I told him was, I am turning to the right. He says, No, stop it. Listen to me. Don't listen how you feel because your body is lying to you right now. You feel like you're going to the right, but you're not. You have to listen to me. Turn to the right. Quit going by how you feel. Listen to me.”

59s

#TrainKidsToTrustGod

“How did it get to that point? I tell you how it got to that point. It's because as a family, as mother and as father, instead of training their children to know and trust God's revelations, God's will, and God's plan, Isaac and Rebecca followed their own emotions and their own feelings and their own preferences. It's what they thought. Isaac thought this is what's best for for Esau and and Rebecca thought, well, this is what's best for Jacob and and they just basically raised him on what they thought and because they did not hear the word of the Lord and heed the word of the Lord, they never taught their children, hey, guys, I wanna train you to know and trust God's revelation, God's will, and God's plan for your life.”

58s

#ParentsShapeSpiritualDestiny

“Instead, Jacob is always trying to trying to take something from Esau that the Lord has already told him, it belongs to you. Whose fault was it? I'm sit here and tell you today and just and and with us, it was the it was Isaac and Rebecca's fault. They never trained them. They had no idea. If we don't train our children know, to trust God's revelation, God's will, and God's plan, then they'll live the rest of their life trying to follow their own emotions, their own feelings, and their own preferences and they're go through some stuff, I'll be honest with you, that they shouldn't have to go through.”

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