"eh?"

“Eh?”

1 Samuel 3:1-11, 19

Raise your hand if you sometimes have a hard time hearing God or discerning God’s voice.

Interruptions define our lives, do they not?

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 attentions to, and I believe it—how about you?

But it’s hard to resist a blinking inbox or a buzzing phone…kinda like a dog can’t resist a squirrel.

One study has found that a typical college student can’t go for more than 2 minutes without becoming distracted by social media—whether it be Twitter, Facebook, emails, texts, Instagram or just the plain old web.

It’s hard to concentrate when you can’t focus on one thing for more than 2 minutes.

And it’s not just younger people: people everywhere seem to be experiencing an epidemic of overwhelm.

According to studies, the average business person receives and sends out about 109 emails a day, and that rate is growing each year by 7 percent.

Instant messages are increasing by 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 to 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 Lesson for this morning, it says “In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.”

What I think the writer of 1 Samuel is trying to tell us is that “people weren’t listening!!!”

God was talking, nudging 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, in a lot of ways, 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 Word of the Lord is rare; there aren’t many visions”?

According to data from the Gun Violence Archive the amount of mass shootings in the United States this year have outpaced the number of days.

As of August 5th, which was the 217th day of the year there had been 255 mass shootings in the U.S.

Does it sometimes feel like the Word of the Lord is rare?

It sure can seem that way!

It’s like everyone is going nuts!!!

What voices are they hearing?

Or listening too?

I don’t even want to know, but God knows it’s not His!!!

Our nation has been mourning after last week’s mass shootings.

Some people may just throw up their hands and say: “Where is God in all this?”

If we listen to the politicians and the 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?

Is hatred and 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 it 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.