Samuel sought guidance

    So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”
    But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. And the LORD told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king." (1 Samuel 8:4–7)

Samuel has been serving the LORD since his youth. He is now an old man, and troubled by the request that’s come to him. What does he do? He talks to the LORD as if it is the continuation of a lifelong conversation. The LORD is quite specific in his response! What we don’t know is how long it took for Samuel to get an answer, or how he prepared himself to hear from God. At the very least we can assume Samuel cleared his head and his schedule so he could be ready. 

What would it take for you to be ready to hear from God?