Distractions

     

 

      One of my absolute favorite things about my short time as stay-at-home mom has been the revival of my personal quiet time.  On a typical day, I get my oldest daughter up and ready to go to school, when she leaves with her dad (who also happens to be the principal at her school), I have a little bit of time before the other two girls get up.  I have cherished that time.  Rather than go back to bed, which can be a temptation, I have tried to use that quiet time to read my Bible, read a devotional, watch some of my favorite preachers that I have recorded, or even write this blog if there is something on my mind.  It has been such a great thing for me spiritually to intentionally take time by myself to immerse in God’s word.  Over the last few months I have gone from doing this as a duty, to actually looking forward to it.  I actually hate to miss it on those days that both of my other girls happen to wake up early.  It’s been kind of funny to me since becoming more intentional about reading my Bible, how many distractions seem to come up. 

“But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 11:3 NIV.  There is nothing that Satan wants more than for us to be distracted when we are spending time learning about God.  This morning was a perfect example.  We just started a new study about the Holy Spirit in my ladies Bible study group.  It is a really great study so far.  I started on the work book last night and was going to continue this morning.  However, for the life of me I could not find a pen that would work.  I tried every pen I could find and none of them would work.  I spent 10-15 minutes on this stupid little problem.  The thought crossed my mind to wait until later to work on it because I was getting frustrated.  However, when that thought came to mind I sensed that the pen issue was just a distraction of the enemy to keep me from doing the study.  So, instead of quitting, I found a pencil instead and sat back down to get to work.  Wouldn’t you know it, the minute I started writing, the lead on my pencil broke.  I actually laughed out loud at this pathetic attempt of the enemy.  I clicked out some new lead and kept going.

It’s so easy to allow life to distract us from pressing into God.  After all, we have a lot of things going on; demands at work, kids needing us, laundry and dishes, bills to pay, and even church events.  We are so busy that it can be easy to skip our time reading our Bibles.  I am so guilty of that.  However, one of the most common questions Christians have is, “how can I hear from God.”  Our first method of hearing from God is by reading His word, the Bible. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17 NIV.  If we don’t spend time in the word, we may miss out on what God is trying to tell us.  And don’t be fooled, simply reading to check of the box of your “read through the Bible” list may not give you the same benefit as actually digging into what you are reading and trying to understand it.  For example, when I taught math I would have never just told the kids to just read the chapter and do their work.  They would have been completely lost if I would have done that, and likely would have given up altogether (like many Christians do).  If I did have them read something I would explain it to them as they read.  God does the same thing with us.  He doesn’t want us just to read and then go about our day.  He wants us to allow him to explain through His Holy Spirit what we are reading.  However, if we give into every distraction and never stop long enough to be focused, we are going to miss out on what God is trying to tell us.

I am guilty of giving into the distractions.  Whether its housework, my favorite TV show, social media, my phone, or just plain laziness, I have done it all.  However, I have always benefitted during the times I put all those distractions away and allowed the teacher to explain what I just read.  It’s absolutely amazing how, when you do that, you may even get a fresh perspective on verses that are so familiar that you think you already know everything there is to know about them.  I encourage you, carve out some time in your day to spend letting God reveal to you exactly what He wants to teach you.