Recently, as I was trying to shut out the world and have my personal
devotions, I found myself frustrated and reflecting on how hard it is for me to
truly concentrate on God and His Word, even for a few minutes. My thoughts
scatter so easily. Why do I find it so hard to stay focused on eternal things?
Why does my mind constantly want to drift from the important to the trivial?
Maybe you too have asked these questions.
There are so many things that compete for our attention every moment of every
day, but there are three things that plague me the most—clutter, noise, and
hurry.
Clutter. I am talking about the junk
that we own, that we live with. I am talking about the material things that we
buy, or acquire, or are given that seem to multiply in the night and end up
owning us. These physical things are constantly vying for our attention and can
easily divert our focus away from eternal things. While I try to focus on the
Lord and His Word, suddenly I find myself remembering that I need to replace
those bulbs in the outside security lights, or I recall that we are about out
of bird seed, or the patio furniture needs to be power-washed to get the moss
off. In Luke 12:15 Jesus told His disciples, "Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not
even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions." That
message goes against the "wisdom" of this age. Many people around us
apparently think that material possessions are what life is about. For me, they
become like lead weights tying my soul to this earth, diverting my eyes off His
Kingdom.
Lord, please cut the cords that hold me to my stuff and help me
remember that life is not about possessions.
Noise. We are surrounded by sounds.
It is nearly impossible to find a quiet place. We get so used to hearing
background noise that if we do happen to find ourselves a quiet spot for a few
minutes, the silence becomes deafening. Most of us are addicted to noise. What
is the first thing most of us do when we get in our car? We turn on the radio,
either to music or the news. I was reminded the other day that most of the
world's classical music was composed in near silence. Many of the great
composers lived in an age and in settings where the loudest thing they might hear
in a day were the blacksmith's hammer or the sound of a horse's hooves on
cobblestones. Yet out of their silence came the world's greatest music. In the
KJV translation of Psalm 46:10 the Lord says, "Be still and know that I am God." It is not easy to
be still, to be quiet, even for a few minutes. The NASB translates the verse
as, "Cease striving and know
that I am God." It is not easy to cease striving, to quit
squirming, and to stop wrestling.
Lord, help me to calm down and listen for Your voice, even amidst
the noise and clamour of this world.
Hurry. We all have a million things
to do every day. Sometimes it seems like I live my life running—probably you do
too. At the end of the day I often find myself reflecting on how much was left
undone, how many things I did not get accomplished. But then I think to
myself, "This is nuts! What is wrong
with me for crying out loud?" That is because I know that this is not
how God wants us to live. God is more concerned with our character than He is
with our accomplishments. He is all about my being, not my doing.
But I keep getting my priorities fouled up; going back to the mistaken idea
that busyness is next to godliness.
Lord, please help me learn to slow down and step out of the world's
crazy fast lane so that I can see You, and hear You, and walk in step with You.
Still learning,
Mike
P.S. This pandemic may just be God’s way
of getting us, His people, to stop long enough to seek Him and to listen for
His voice. Maybe before it is all over, we will give thanks for this “timeout”
from the rat race that we have been participating in for so long. It’s just a
thought.
