God said, “All those things that you are distracted by, I gave them to you.”
· “I gave you that phone.”
· “I gave you that TV.”
· “I gave you your husband/ wife/ girlfriend/ boyfriend.”
· “ I gave you that money.”
“But when I call your name, you don’t hear Me.”
Does this sound familiar? Have you ever called your child’s name and they don’t answer?
A pastor asked this question via a Tik Tok video the other day that I happened to scroll across. I’m sorry I didn’t get his name, but needless to say, lots of hands went up in the congregation when he asked this question, and the parents in the audience just laughed and laughed!
Later on, that same afternoon, I sat at the park flipping through the pages of my notebook, looking for a word, and I randomly opened it up to some notes that I had taken during the worship service here at Immanuel on March 12 of this year. At the top of the page I read, “The Ugliness of Idolatry is Sin”, and as I went on, I read that ugliness is defined as, “Taking a created thing and worshiping it in place of our Creator.”
It was in that moment that I knew God was speaking to me and had been all day, but was I hearing Him, or was I distracted? Well, I was looking at Tik Tok videos when I came across the first message, so I think that speaks for itself. Then, later on that day, He gave me the same message in a different way. Did I pay attention this time you might ask? Absolutely! I actually started writing this devotion in that moment.
So, what was God trying to tell me? I think He was trying to tell me that I have been distracted, and honestly, I believe that He was trying to pull me back to Him, but the questions still remains, “Am I paying attention? Am I spending time with Him? Am I praying and making my needs known, and trusting Him to take care of them, or am I begging and telling Him what to do? Do I listen in silence?
Sometimes I feel like the more I become distracted, the farther away from God I get, but is this really the case? No, I don’t think so, because like I said earlier, He reached out to me two different times today and pulled me in closer, reminding me of where I belong.
Dear God,
Thank You for loving us enough to reach out and pull us closer during the hardest of times. Times when we feel distracted, times when we feel weak, and times when we just don’t answer when You call our name. Thank You for being a Father who refuses to be ignored because You know what’s best for us and we are Your children. Thank You also for Your grace and for Your patience with us as we mature and grow spiritually in You.
“Many, Lord my God,
are the wonders You have done,
the things You planned for us.
None can compare with You;
were I to speak and tell of Your deeds,
they would be too many to declare.”
Psalm 40:5