God Is Trying To Get Your Attention

God is trying to get attention because God knows everything, and somebody who knows everything can keep a soul out of potholes, bad people, and foolish moves. Kingston’s question, “How do I know whether God is speaking to me or if it’s just me talking to myself?” puts a real grown-up concern in an 11-year-old mouth. God’s omniscience makes discernment urgent, because trouble is coming and there will come a point when money, education, friends, and even church folk cannot answer what only God can say.

Revelation 3:20 frames the whole matter with Jesus standing at the door and knocking. God has been knocking “all your life,” but hearing the voice and opening the door are not automatic. First Samuel 3 gives the church a textbook on how God gets a person’s attention. Samuel is in the tabernacle, serving under Eli, sleeping near the ark, close to the presence, yet he does not yet know the Lord for himself. The text makes that plain: somebody can be in the building, sing the songs, do the work, and still need a personal encounter with God.

Eli stands as the old priesthood under judgment. Samuel stands as the answer God is raising up. Eli and his sons have abused their place, and God shows that a person may be important but is not necessary. God will not be mocked, and God will tell somebody before judgment falls. Hannah’s surrendered prayer produced Samuel, the child “asked for by God,” and Samuel’s life shows that God can use a child as surely as Abraham at 75.

The attention economy exposes why hearing God is hard. A wealth of information has created a poverty of attention. Screens, companies, notifications, and people are fighting for the mind, and whatever gets attention shapes feelings, thoughts, and decisions. The question becomes, “Who has your attention?”

God sends his word three ways. God’s word interrupts, like Samuel’s sleep being broken in the night. God’s word is insistent, calling again and again until somebody pays attention. God’s word is inconvenient, because Samuel’s first word was a hard word to Eli, the very man over him. God sends his word because God has an agenda, and inside that agenda is an assignment. Samuel can agree or abort. Fear does not mean God is absent. Sometimes fear is the sign that God is speaking about something bigger than comfort, something that will prove it had to be God.

Key Takeaways

• 1. Attention reveals the real altar The attention economy shows that the heart follows what the eyes, thumbs, and minutes keep feeding. Screen time is not just a neutral statistic, it is a spiritual audit of what has been discipling the mind. God does not compete like an app, but God does call a person to “start paying attention to what you pay attention to.” [70:48]
• 2. God’s word interrupts routines God called Samuel while Samuel was trying to sleep, because divine speech often breaks into the ordinary pattern. An interruption may feel like trouble, loss, restlessness, or inconvenience, but God may be using that break to arrest attention. The routine can become so loud that mercy has to disturb it before the soul can hear. [96:28]
• 3. Insistence is mercy before judgment God did not call Samuel once and vanish. The repeated call shows that God can be patient, steady, and unwilling to let the moment pass unnoticed. Even judgment on Eli came after warning, because God’s insistence is often grace speaking before consequences arrive. [98:13]
• 4. Assignment outruns age and status Samuel was young, Abraham was old, and God used both because assignment is not controlled by age. God’s agenda is bigger than a person’s comfort, résumé, or season of life. The call can come to a child, a senior, a rookie, or somebody who thinks the window has closed. [101:27]
• 5. Fear can signal holy calling Samuel was afraid to tell Eli what God had said, and that fear did not cancel the word. God often speaks in ways that scare a person because the assignment is larger than natural capacity. When the thing is too big to brag about, the fulfilled word becomes a witness that God did it. [103:59]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [56:14] - God Is Trying to Get Attention
• [57:47] - Is God Speaking or Is It Me?
• [59:37] - Behold, I Stand and Knock
• [60:21] - Samuel Hears the Lord
• [66:24] - The Attention Economy
• [74:11] - Who Has Your Attention?
• [81:28] - How, Why, and What Now
• [82:14] - Samuel and Eli Contrasted
• [87:24] - Samuel Means Asked For
• [90:32] - Sleeping Near the Presence
• [96:28] - God Interrupts, Insists, and Inconveniences
• [100:15] - God Has an Agenda
• [102:40] - Agree or Abort
• [106:00] - Speak to My Heart

1. In 1 Samuel 3:7, why did Samuel initially misunderstand God’s voice as Eli’s? What does this reveal about his spiritual awareness at the time?
2. How does Revelation 3:20 frame the relationship between hearing God’s voice and taking action?
3. What three ways does God send His word, according to the sermon (interruption, insistence, inconvenience)? [36:28]
4. How does the sermon contrast Eli’s leadership with Samuel’s calling? [22:14]

1. Why do you think God called Samuel repeatedly instead of speaking clearly the first time? What might this teach about His patience in getting our attention?
2. Eli’s sons abused their priestly role, yet God still used Samuel to deliver a hard message to Eli. What does this reveal about God’s priorities in leadership versus human traditions?
3. The sermon mentions that “fear can signal holy calling” (1 Samuel 3:15). Why might fear accompany God’s assignments, and how does this challenge our view of obedience?
4. How does the “attention economy” (competing distractions) make it harder to discern God’s voice today? [07:12]

1. Reflect on a recent interruption in your routine (e.g., sleeplessness, unexpected events). How might God be using that disruption to redirect your focus or speak to you? [36:47]
2. What practical step could you take this week to “start paying attention to what you pay attention to” (e.g., screen time audit, intentional quiet moments)? [10:48]
3. Is there a situation where you’ve avoided obeying God because the assignment felt inconvenient or scary? What would it look like to say, “Speak, Lord—your servant is listening” in that area? [43:59]
4. How do you distinguish between God’s voice and your own thoughts? Share a time when clarity came through persistence in seeking Him.
5. Samuel’s first assignment was to confront Eli, his mentor. Is there a relationship where God might be calling you to speak truth—even if it feels uncomfortable?
6. The sermon says, “Your screen time is a spiritual audit.” What does your screen time reveal about your priorities, and what one change could deepen your attentiveness to God? [11:12]
7. Are you leaning on others’ faith (like Samuel initially relied on Eli) instead of pursuing a personal relationship with God? What step could you take to “know Him for yourself” this week? [02:36]