Saturday, January 8, 2011

Diverted By Distraction


Yesterday as I was thinking on those thoughts about “Being Still”, I was reminded of how Satan’s ways are the opposite of God’sSo if God is calling us to be still and rest our hearts with His, that would mean our enemy encourages us to do anything but that.  And the more I thought, the more I realize that...


The primary tools in the enemy’s tool belt 
are noise and distraction!


He is a liar.  The Father of lies.  Outright lies and twists of the truth.  He will always be best known for that, for sure!  But he works in various other ways as well—and getting us distracted and bothered by what is going on around us is something I need to be more aware of.

Above my kitchen sink hangs this picture:



The world is loud!  Full of distractions!  Which made me think about another loud distraction Beth Moore talked about from Luke.

“In the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, ‘Let us alone!  What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth?  Have you come to destroy us?  I know who you are—the Holy One of God!’”  Luke 4:33, 34

I can’t remember now which study of hers this was from {and to be completely honest...I’m not 100% sure I’m giving the right gal the credit!} but...the point was that the world of evil—Satan’s domain—works by diverting our attention.

Now look at the verses above.

The man was speaking the truth, but it was his manner—the presentation—the noise of him that was distracting and not any thing any hearer would want to hear.  Now I know there are several other reasons as to why Jesus quieted him, so I don’t want to debate that and all, but think about the setting.  Jesus “was teaching on the Sabbath and they were amazed at His teaching, for His message was with authority.” (v. 32)  All of a sudden, this man completely breaks the moment with his loud noise and distracted the people from listening to and receiving deeply the words that Jesus was and had been speaking.  How many were distracted to the point of walking away...going back to their business—regardless of what they had been listening to?

Our enemy does this to us all the time!  Still!

He diverts our attention from our marriage, our children, our home, our relationships, our relationship with God over and over and over again.  We listen to a sermon—moved for the moment by truth revealed by our earthly Shepherd—then we walk away unchanged, our thoughts quickly consumed by the plans for the rest of the day.

Where or how are you being distracted in your life right now?  
Is your attention being diverted from your home, husband or children?  
From somewhere else to something else?  
Are you taking time for the quiet moments?  
Are you listening for God's whispers? 


I don’t even need to ask God to help me with this one—I know!

No defeat—Satan’s into that too! 

Just ask God to help you divert it back!




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Also shared at Raising Homemakers