And said: Here am I: for thou didst call me. Then Heli understood that the Lord called the child, and he said to Samuel: Go, and sleep: and if he shall call thee any more, thou shalt say: Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went, and slept in his place.
1 Samuel 3:7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither had the word of the Lord been revealed to him.
1 Samuel 3:8 And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose up and went to Heli,
1 Samuel 3:9 And said: Here am I: for thou didst call me. Then Heli understood that the Lord called the child, and he said to Samuel: Go, and sleep: and if he shall call thee any more, thou shalt say: Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went, and slept in his place.
1 Samuel 3:10 And the Lord came, and stood, and he called, as he had called the other times, Samuel, Samuel. And Samuel said: Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.
1 Samuel 3:11 And the Lord said to Samuel: Behold I do a thing in Israel: and whosoever shall hear it, both his ears shall tingle.
The verse centers on "called", "said", "here", "thou", "didst", "heli", "understood", and "lord". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "called" and "said", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 8's "And the Lord called Samuel again the..." into verse 10's "And the Lord came and stood and...", so "called" and "said" belong inside that flow. In 1 Samuel context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.
A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "called" and "said" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.