How do you know???

How do you know when you hear from God???  We've long since left the days of burning bushes so I ask you again, how do you know?  Sometimes I think I hear from Him and things don't progress the way I feel they should.  Does that mean I didn't hear right?  Today's blog is different from most of Sundays' blogs because I'm not concentrating on today's sermon but rather the story of David as a whole.  Let me catch you up...David was annointed King of Israel a looooong time before he ever took throne.  In fact, he endured many trials in the years between the 2 events.  Did Samuel hear from God when he annointed David?  Well, we all know this is a resounding YES!  But why did it take so long and why did David have to go through so much before God's word came true?  I don't have the answer but I do believe this story is placed in the Bible so that we can see that we, too, have to spend time waiting for God patiently sometimes after His word has been revealed to us or even until His word is revealed.  May God's grace sustain us during the time while we wait on Him.