I can’t help it. It’s SO beautiful!
“And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan come immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their heart. Mark 4:15 NKJV
One of the many loving terms of endearment my husband has given me is, “Bright-shiny-thing.” As a child, I grew up infamous for being distracted by any bright and shiny thing that came along. I still struggle with this affliction. I have the attention span of a gnat. Do you remember that mosquito from the movie, “A Bugs Life”? You know the scene, when he’s drawn to the bug zapper? While his friends frantically yell out their warnings to him, “No, Harry, No, don’t look at the light!” Hypnotized, he’s unable to pull away. “I can’t help it… it’s so beautiful…” His weakness to distraction becomes his fatal mistake.
Just like the mosquito, I suffer from this chronic disease I like to call, the attraction of distraction. Sadly, this weakness of the flesh, affects my spiritual life in big ways too. No matter how heartfelt my desire to be in the Word, before my feet even hit the ground, I can be distracted almost immediately. I would love to say that these distractions are of dire importance, that my attention to these matters hold life and death in the balance. Ahem, well, not exactly.
A phone call, a song on the radio, an email from a friend, thoughts about what to make for dinner, “Should I keep my hair short or long this summer?”, are sometimes all it takes to pull me away from my time with the Lord. These distractions work their way in, taking from me the chance to know Him a little bit better and to be prepared for whatever He has for my day.
The scripture above, “And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. They that hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.” Mark 4:15 NKJV, is from the parable of the sower. This verse almost screamed out to me from the pages of my Bible today. “ Satan comes immediately and takes away…” were the words that my eyes kept going back to. I dug a little bit deeper and found out that the words “takes away” come from the Greek word ???? (air?) which means to take away what is attached, or my favorite, to take away from another what is his, or what is committed to him.
Satan doesn’t waste one second. Distraction is not an affliction he will ever suffer from. It is his goal to distract us. He has his missiles locked and loaded. The moment He knows that our ears are ready to hear God’s Word, the very second the Lord’s promises for us begin to take root, the enemy uses his nuclear warfare we call distractions to take away what is attached to our heart. Satan does his best to tear away the promises that are ours and distract us from the promises that the Lord has committed to each one of us. What we think are just the mundane day to day things that come up, Satan uses to advance his position. His joyous mission – to keep us from growing and maturing into the godly people we are called to be.
I now keep a Bible right beside my bed. The Lord sits beside me as I spend time with Him, while the enemy hides in the shadows waiting to pounce like a roaring lion for the kill, and take away His Word from my heart. The enemy may threaten me by attempting to take away, but I belong to the One who gives and gives abundantly. All I need to do is ask.
For now, I will be asking for my walk to be steadfast and unwavering. His Word will strengthen my perseverance to overcome any bright lights sent to distract, and will be my holy bug spray, aimed and ready to zap any mosquitoes I see along the way.
Bless you sweetie.
Oh, Joanne, what a powerful message. I really like what you said here:”His Word will strengthen my perseverance to overcome any bright lights sent to distract, and will be my holy bug spray, aimed and ready to zap any mosquitoes I see along the way”…May His Word always be my strength.
Thank you for sharing your heart with us.
This was soo good and I can totally relate. I too seem to be soo easily distracted sometimes in the midst of something I am doing. The old thing where on the way to the kitchen to do the dishes I notice the newspaper strewn about and stop to pick it up and notice an article I want to read that makes me think of a friend who needs to hear it that I then I call and before I know it an hour has gone by and I go into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee when I realize I never did do the dishes….SIGH…I “try” to have my time with the Lord before I ever leave my bedroom in the morning in my little chair by the window. Thanks for all this, I enjoyed it. Blessings, Debbie
This made me think of Ecclesiastes 10:1 – “Dead flies make a perfumer’s oil stink, so a little foolishness is weightier than wisdom and honor.”
We don’t want those dead flies of sin and distraction causing our “scent” to be repulsive to those we are an aroma to.
Great devo my ‘little possum blossom!”