Blah Blah Blah

In church this morning the pastor preached out of 1 Samuel 3, the first verse saying that in that time words from the Lord were few and far between. Why is that? Well, if you look at the previous chapters it suggests that no one was listening. But at this point the Lord spoke and offered me another insight.

I'll be honest; loquacious people annoy me. I don't want to interrupt them with my two cents worth, but that's the only way I can cut through the blah blah blah. More annoying still is that what I have to say might shed new light on their issue and help them work it through. It's happened before. So I risk it.

Yet, I'm one sentence into my insight and the blah blah blah kicks in again.

This happened a few weeks ago when I was talking with a guy in our parking lot who had a plethora of questions. I'd say I talked to him about Jesus, but I couldn't. He wouldn't be quite long enough to hear the answers. So he walked away not knowing where Cain got his wife, or where the "far away land" was that he went to, or what it was called, or... or... or...

I had the answers ready and waiting for the guy to take a breath.

But instead, blah blah blah.

In this same way, God told me that He doesn't like talking over people. He can; his voice formed the earth after all, and the psalmist says it shakes the mountains. But He chooses to use a still small voice, one that will only be heard by those who stop spouting religious prayers and rhetoric long enough to listen.

Samuel listened, and as a result the Lord stood before him and the two shared a lifelong dialogue. It's amazing what happens when we simply stop talking.