"God Calling: Samuel"
1 Samuel 3:1-11, 19
Raise your hand if you have a hard time hearing God, or discerning God's Voice.
Interruptions define our lives.
Our days and nights are full of gadgets that ping, buzz and beep their way into our attention, taking us away from whatever we are doing.
Our brains focus quickly on one topic, then switch to another, and another.
It really is bizarre!!!
It's like we are constantly on overload.
Neuroscientists say that there are fundamental biological limits to what our brains can pay attention to, and I believe it.
But we just can't seem to resist a blinking inbox or a buzzing phone, can we?...kinda like a dog can't resist a squirrel.
One study has found that a typical college student can't go more than 2 minutes without becoming distracted by social media, whether it be twitter, facebook, emails, texts, instagram, tumbler, or just the plain old web.
That means that the millennial generation can't concentrate on one thing for more than about 2 minutes.
But it's not just the younger people: people everywhere seem to be experiencing an epidemic of overwhelm.
According to studies, the average businessperson receives and sends about 109 e-mails a day, and that rate is growing each year by 7 percent.
Instant messages are increasing 11 percent, and texting is bombarding everyone.
According to a book called "Driven to Distraction" all this stuff is a huge problem.
"It's the newest addiction. There are in-patient centers now for people with technology addiction.
Marriages even break up."
The surge of texts and social media notifications in recent years is giving many of us terminal distraction and always-on availability.
Michael Salem, co-founder and CEO of Vorex, says he gets 1,000 messages a day.
"I'm overwhelmed," he admits.
"Responding is a daily thing, 24 hours a day."
He barely sleeps, taking calls from global users of his product from his bed.
The idea that we are supposed to be able monitor and troll through all this stuff and keep a handle on what God is up to at the same time seems absurd.
Some people say things such as "my life is lived on the internet."
Which means it's not lived in the real world.
With all these Interruptions and distractions how in the world are people supposed to be able to listen for and hear the voice of God?
In our Scripture Reading for this morning, it says that "The Lord's word was rare in that time, and visions weren't widely known."
What I think the writer of 1 Samuel is trying to tell us is that "people weren't listening!!!"
God was talking, nudging all people all the time.
It wasn't that God wasn't sending out visions or His Word; it's that people weren't hearing Him.
And isn't that what is going on today?
God is always speaking, calling, nudging.
Do we hear Him?
Or, does it sometimes feel like, "The Lord's word is rare...and visions aren't widely known?"
I'll tell you, with all the hate crimes and terror attacks we have been witnessing lately, it sure can seem that way.
It's like nearly everyone is nuts!!!
What voices are they hearing?
I don't even want to know.
God knows it's not His!!!
Our nation is mourning as we have just witnessed the largest mass shooting in the history of America!!!
Some people may just throw up their hands and say: "Where is God in all this?"
If you listen to the politicians and 24 hour news cycle enough it can become extremely depressing!!!
It can become extremely difficult to slow down and listen for God.
But isn't that exactly what we need to do?
If we can't hear God what hope do we have?
Is terrorism, hatred and gang violence all there is to this life, to this world?
Or is there a higher purpose?
Are McMansions, ridiculously expensive cars, embarrassingly expensive clothing, all that stuff that is just "blowing in the wind" what this great world and life are about?
Is that what it's about?
Is that what brings us happiness and fulfillment?
Are we meant to be self-centered and miserly or is there another way?
Is there any hope or is this life just a cruel joke?
Is it all meaninglessness or is there meaning?
Is there a purpose?
Is there a reason to live?
(pause)
Hannah, Samuel's mother, was at the end of her rope.
She was not able to have children and she very much wanted to be a mother.
So, she took a chance.
She promised God that if she could have a son she would dedicate him to God’s service.
She became pregnant and had a son she named him Samuel, which means “God heard.”
She kept her promise to God, and Samuel grew up in the Temple from a very young age.
He lived in the Temple, slept in the Temple, and helped the high priest Eli take care of the Temple.
. He was a full-time altar boy.
The Bible says Samuel slept in the same room as the ark of God… the ark of the covenant.
The ark of the covenant was where the power of God was most present.
He was about 12 years old at the time.
When God first called to Samuel he thought it was Eli who was calling.
He wasn't expecting God to speak.
He hadn't been listening for God.
It just wasn't something people did.
Finally, "Eli realized it was the Lord who was calling the boy."
Then Samuel went back and laid down and waited and listened carefully for God's voice.
Sometimes Christian friends, mentors, Sunday school teachers, Youth leaders and even pastors and preachers can point us to God's voice.
Othertimes, it may be a homeless person on the side of the road.
Or an act of kindness.
Or a door we open to God...a commitment on our part to do the right thing--and before we know it--God's voice is booming in our hearts and minds.
In any event, when Eli told Samuel that God was calling him he became expectant.
He was ready to hear.
How can we be ready to hear?
What can we do to be prepared to hear God's call?
We are told that "the Lord came and stood there, calling just as before, "Samuel, Samuel!"--
--Notice the words, "just as before."
Not in some new way...
...but in the way God had been calling all along.
And God is always calling us as well.
This time when God called "Samuel said, 'Speak, Your servant is listening.'"
How many of us really want to hear God's voice?
Let's be honest.
It can be risky to ask God to speak.
It changes our lives if we listen.
Because no matter the details of the call; God always calls us away from self and selfishness and into a new life lived in love for God and neighbor.
If we heed the call of God we will never be the same again.
But isn't that what life is all about?
Do you want to know the will of God for your life, your every moment life?
Do you want to love God and other people?
Do you want to live life the way God intends for you to live?
Do you want to do the good that God has prepared in advance for you to do?
Do you want to be free to do that.
And I don't think we can do this very well if we are caught up in a "what's in it for me, or how will it benefit me?" mindset.
God isn't a commodity.
Neither are people.
Studies show that listening doesn't come naturally to most of us.
And can be a real problem.
Ever been ready for the rebuttal to what someone is saying without really listening to what they are saying?
We aren't always good listeners.
And it's a problem in the relationships we have with other people, so just imagine what a problem it is when it comes to having a relationship with God.
Notice 1 Samuel 3:15 doesn’t say Samuel went to sleep after God spoke to him, but it seems to imply he lay in his bed and thought about what God had told him.
He meditated on God’s word, and then when the time came he spoke God’s word to Eli, and later to all Israel.
He took the time to digest what God had told him and then proved the truth of God’s word by putting it into practice.
Verse 19 says, "So Samuel grew up, and the Lord was with him, not allowing any of his words to fail."
Clearly, the emphasis of 1 Samuel chapter 3 is on listening.
What are you listening to?
Who are you listening to?
There is a lot of useless noise out there.
And it would seem that there are a lot of people who have no interest in really, really hearing God!!!
And so, it may seem...
...that in the year 2016 that "The Lord's word [is] rare..."
But that's a lie.
The Lord's Word is everywhere!!!
It is all around us.
It's alive and kicking!!!
When we listen to what God is saying, when we act on what we hear from God, our world changes!!!
We are transformed.
Black and white becomes Technicolor.
And the Word of God speaks through us, and whether it be in actions only or in real audible words--well, it doesn't fail.
Let us pray.
Amen.
