The only connection you need to feel safe and secure.
Just try to trick a blind woman. A while back a close friend and I sat across the patio table from each other. A warm spring breeze came through as we visited and chatted about life.
As I was sharing some deep stuff with her, I stopped. “Are you on your cell?” I asked, not as a reprimand, but out of curiosity.
“How did you know,” she said.
I grinned. “I don’t have to see. But the sound of your voice changes when you’re looking down.”
Plop. I heard her put her cell on the glass table. “Sorry.”
She didn’t need to be sorry. I understood. It’s noted that today cell-phone addiction is the new virus. My friend, David Welday shares this:
I recently saw a short video where everyone was on their smartphone during personal moments. Friends sharing a meal, a husband and wife cuddling on the couch, moms watching their kids splash in a small backyard pool, or taking a quiet walk through a nature park. In the midst of these moments, people were scanning their phones -reading texts, scrolling through Facebook, watching funny videos.
None of that stuff is bad. But what’s not so good is that screen has become such a subtle, but powerfully irresistible lure that invades our time, our attention and distorts our desires.
Although cell phones can be an important connection with our kids in emergencies, could it be that, ever so slowly, we’ve given that electronic gadget the power to be the king of our attention, the ruler of our distractions, and the focus of our satisfaction?
On HelpGuide’s website you’ll find this statement:
Smartphone addiction, sometimes colloquially known as “nomophobia” (fear of being without a mobile phone), is often fueled by an Internet overuse problem or Internet addiction disorder. After all, it’s rarely the phone or tablet itself that creates the compulsion, but rather the games, apps, and online worlds it connects us to. (https://www.helpguide.org/articles/addictions/smartphone-addiction.htm)
Wait a minute? Could it be we’re hungry for connection? Sure, we are. That’s why God invites us to connect with Him. To focus on Him. To hunger for Him. And to find satisfaction in Him.
King David must have written these truths on the screen of his heart. Even at fourteen, he carried in his pouch, not a cell phone, but a clear connection with Almighty God. He was solidly connected to His power and mighty strength. That’s why fear was afraid of him. And rather than shaking on his scrawny legs, he stepped forward, strong and determined. He looked up and “David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of Hosts…” 1 Samuel 17:45.
In these turbulent times, we want the same victory over the giants we face. But as we’re busy swiping and clicking on that screen, connecting with the world, menacing giants lurk nearby. They come at us, licking their lips as they’ll eat us and our cell phones for lunch. Disconnected from God, we become their pray, weak and defenseless.
No wonder suicide rate is off the charts. No wonder anxiety and depression visit most homes today. But we can reverse all that. Here’s an audacious challenge: put your cell phone away (only for a moment). The pain might sear as you temporarily disconnect from the world. But when you do, you just left the line open for God’s voice to come through.
And when it does, a beautiful connection begins. We can then draw from His strength, tap into His power and become charged with bold faith.
And like David, we’re able to come against our giants in the name of the Lord and through God’s power we chop their heads off too.
That’s why while the rest of the world is lost in intimate moments with their screen, we dance into victory and sing praises like David did in Psalm 103:
Verse 1: Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. In praising God, we’re declaring God is bigger than our problems, we’re declaring He’s sovereign and His victory is ours.
Verse 2: Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. His benefits? God’s benefits are that we can come under His wings of protection. We can count on His power to bring down the giants that keep knocking at the door.
Verse 3: Who forgives all your sins… Only a connection with God through His son Jesus will bring that freedom from condemnation and erase the or unwanted shame.
Verse 4: Who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion… Connected with God, we’re lifted from the pit of depression. We walk down the aisle of joy, wearing the crown of compassion and His love, unfailing and true.
Verse 5: Who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Intentionally disconnecting ourselves from the world and connecting to God, to His Word, to His promises, guidance and strength, He satisfies all our desires, meets all our needs, and renews our security.
Let’s Pray
Father, thank You for the wisdom You grant me to connect with You, to honor You with my time and my attention. In Jesus’ name.
What connection lures you today?
Janet
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