Pastor Glen Golden
High Point Baptist Church
I confess to being an avid outdoorsman and love being out in the woods. How many of you enjoy the sound of the wind in the trees or a creek bubbling merrily along its way? How peaceful, even haunting, the many sounds of the animals and birds in the woods. No matter the reason that brings us outdoors, many are the times we find ourselves distracted from our first reason for being there (hunting or fishing) because of the beauty, sounds and even antics of God's creation surrounding us.
Consider the barking and scurrying of a squirrel, the hooting of an owl, a possum or coon lumbering by, a turkey or quail picking their way through the grass, the jackhammer sound of a woodpecker, the sound of small birds in a bush, or the glimpse of a coyote or bobcat. How many of you have become so enthralled watching these at their work and play that the real reason you're there, say deer hunting, sort of fades into the background? Fact is, there has been more than one occasion when I have lost or nearly lost the opportunity to fill a tag due to being wonderfully distracted by one of the other creatures named above (I suspect a conspiracy). You may think me in this article, like a possum I recently observed, to be guilty of aimlessly wandering; I assure you I am not. A Scripture comes to mind:
"Be still, and know that I am God..." (Psalm 46:10)
DISTRACTIONS are all around us, some of them, in and of themselves are good and enjoyable. We all know there are "bad things out there" that can separate us from God and from hearing His voice in our daily lives. But there are also many "good things" that can distract us from knowing God or from serving Him as we ought. Here's another list: television, video games, movies, cell phones, internet, hobbies & sports (Ouch! even hunting), wealth/money, friends and family. In their proper place and with the proper amount of involvement these can be good. But all these can be overdone to the point that we make them the "gods" of our lives. When we do this we become distracted; separated from God our Creator and from the true reason we are here. One of the smartest things (in a devilish way) which Satan has done is to create competing voices, sounds and activities to try to shut out the voice of God. I fear that one of the hardest things for 21st century people of all ages to do is to "Be still and know that God is God". We fear to quiet our mind and heart; but this we must do on a regular basis or we will indeed forget Whose we are and what we are doing here in the first place.