One afternoon a while back I took a much needed trail run. It was on a narrow dirt trail through a grassy field near my house. It was much needed because I had a lot of stress built up which was in need of an outlet. As I ran I pondered the problems facing me. I was irritated with some of the things that were happening around me. I tried to rationalize solutions to these issues and how I wanted to respond to people who were causing the “problems”. I was mixing this “rationalizing” with prayer, asking God how I should deal with these things. Toward the end of my run, the Lord began speaking to me about these issues. To be fair, He had probably been speaking all along, but my ranting was drowning out the still, small voice. He reminded me to look at these things for what they were: distractions placed in my way by Satan.
Not 30 seconds later something happened that made my whole body tremble. I nearly stepped on a rattlesnake in the middle of the trail! It was about 2 feet long. I missed stepping on it by about the same distance. Upon seeing the snake, I jumped off the path. The snake seemed just as startled. It darted off into the grass, thankfully in the opposite direction of me. I stopped running and stood there for a moment. There could not have been a clearer picture of how Satan seeks to take us off the narrow path of following God.
Satan will try to distract us by creating problems all around us to confuse us, discourage us, distract us, and frustrate us. Too often believers are prevented from accomplishing great things for the kingdom because they are lured by the distractions Satan places along the way. Romans
