God has been speaking to me a lot lately about how easily distr..........Squirrel.............distracted I am. It may not seem like that big a deal. Everyone is trying to multitask these days and we go on rabbit trails quite easily but, with the number of times he has brought it to my attention lately it seems to be something I need to look at and maybe deal with too.
I am not against electronic devices and they have made it much easier to dig deeper into passages of Scripture but I am seeing the need for self discipline in using them. There are other distractions to. The phone rings. We get bored and turn on the TV. None of these things is evil, on their own but they all are distractions. We need to take control of the things that distract us if we ever want to go to the place God is leading. We need to stay sensitive to His leading and be ready to walk away from the distraction as soon as we recognize that God may have something else for us.
So often, when I think of disobedience, I think of overt sin. Obviously the person that is caught up in alcoholism, drug abuse, deviant sexual practices, pornography, or even gossip and lying are being disobedient. But, lately God has been pointing out that when I get distracted and stop listening for His voice, I am disobedient too. I can only obey what I hear. While I can know the principles of God from the Bible, obedience requires knowing His current activity. It requires living a life in tune with the Spirit. It is really hard to do that when I am spending a day watching TV or surfing the net.
Many years ago I read the book Practicing His Presence which is a combination of the writings of Brother Lawrence from the 1600 and Frank Laubach from 400 years later. They talk about learning to hear God's voice in the moment. Brother Lawrence said that he didn't like to go to morning vespers because they disrupted his day and he could feel as close to God in the kitchen scrubbing pots and pans as he did in the chapel. He shared how he practiced turning his thoughts to God every hour and eventually, every minute.
I have to say, I do not have a hard time hearing God when I work but all the electronic distractions are different. I am convinced they are more sinister than many of the things they carry. We reject much of the evil they bring into our homes outright but yet, we embrace the distractions. Watching a movie is not in itself wrong. On the other hand, putting ourselves in a place that we cannot hear the voice of God is. Paul called us to pray at all times. We are to keep our channel of communication with God open. If we cannot watch TV or be online while remaining sensitive to His voice, the distraction needs to go.
I want to issue a challenge to you, one that I am currently trying myself. Write down what God is speaking to you once an hour. While you are reading, watching TV, talking to others, having a quiet time with God, whatever the activity, just write down what he is saying. Record your activity at that time also. Look for a pattern. See if there are things that make it harder for you to hear His voice, Then ask Him for the discipline and self control to walk away from those things that are merely distractions.
Hearing His voice is the most important thing we can do. In Him is all wisdom. He has the words of life. Apart from receiving these from Him, we may be very religious but we are not living in relationship to the living God. I need to become distraction free and let the sound of His voice lead me at all times.
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