During my morning devotion as I was drinking coffee. On my favorite loveseat, minding my own business, not hurting anybody, a huge spider ran out from under the entertainment center. He stopped in the middle of the living room floor, and totally freaked me out.
My first thought was, “Not in my house devil.” So I ran toward the kitchen for the fly-flap. But then I thought, “That thing is huge. If I swat him, he’s gonna jump on me, I’m gonna scream, and the whole house is gonna wake up.” So I grabbed a bottle of bug spray out from under the sink, and tiptoed back on the battlefield.
The enemy was back in hiding. I put down the bug spray and reached for my Bible. But I could feel imaginary hairy legs crawling up my arm. I looked to make sure the creepy crawlies were all in my head.
Yet, that spider was real. Where was he? Did he go back under the entertainment center? I spotted something under the coffee table and stooped for a closer look. Nope. I breathed freely as I stared at the piece of potato peel. Where in the world did that come from? When’s the last time I cooked potatoes? And why’s the peel in the living room?
A shadow moved out the corner of my eye. And then disappeared. The enemy was still out there; somewhere.
Try as I might, I couldn’t enjoy my coffee. I couldn’t get lost in God’s word. And I wasn’t about to close my eyes to pray.
That one spider, destroyed my sense of peace and distracted me from my alone time with God, Why?
It’s just a spider.
Though huge, it wasn’t much bigger than a quarter. What if it came out again? What’s the worst that could happen? It might try to bite me, but I’m bigger. I’m armed with not only a fly-flap, but bug spray. And my husband’s rubber boots are near the couch. I could stomp the thing.
Most of the danger was all in my head. What if the spider crossed the room? What if he climbed on the loveseat? What if he crawled on me? Those thoughts not only gave me the hebbie-jebbies, but they prevented me from refreshing my soul.
Isn’t that just like the devil?
As a child of God, we ear the protective blood of the lamb. The devil can’t harm us. But he does play mind games with us. He takes that one thing that we are afraid of and drags it in and out of the shadows of our life. He taunts us with “What if?” until we are so distracted that we lose our peace, our joy, and our happiness. He disrupts our time with God, because he knows that’s where we get our strength.
Like Miss Muffet, we allow the devil to frighten us away from the nourishment that we need to grow in God.
What’s the devil using to keep you distracted? What is he using to scare you away from dining at the king’s table?
Now, that you know it’s a distraction and not a real danger, you have 6 choices.
- Be frightened away and forfeit your spiritual food. Please don’t let this happen. Every princess needs nourishment to grow in the grace and mercy of God’s kingdom.
- Become obsessed with the thing until nothing else matters except stomping, swatting, or spraying the life out of it. In this case the distraction has done its job, because you can no longer enjoy God’s presence.
- Recognize it for the distraction it is, ignore it and get back to the important things.
- Remove yourself from the distraction. This isn’t being frightened away. This is relocating to a more conductive atmosphere, and then continue with your morning devotion.
- Get rid of the distraction. Kill the thing, and move on. Sounds simple right? Sometimes it is.
Each distraction varies. And each one needs to be handled in a different way, but if you keep your focus on God, the enemy will have no power to distract you.
I hope you’ll set aside alone time with God. Don’t let the devil distract you.
What are some ways the devil has distracted you in the past?
And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction. I Corinthians 7:35
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