Years ago I had two similar experiences that revealed an interesting human nature device. I was visiting at the home of my boss who lived at the end of a runway at an international airport. When the planes took off, the sound was deafening. I was standing in the yard talking to the boss’ son, who was also an employee, when a large plane flew, tree top level, right over the house. My friend, who was explaining something to me, simply paused in mid-sentence until the plane had passed and then finished his sentence. When I asked if his family did that all the time, he asked, “Do what all the time?” As it turned out, he didn’t realize that a plane had flown over, or that he had stopped talking until it had passed. A few years later I had a similar experience with a friend who lived just a few yards from a busy train track. In both cases, those who lived so close to the boisterous interruptions had learned not to notice, and to inadvertently pause their communication until the noise had subsided.
It seems apparent to me that, in the spiritual realm, we have developed a harmful variation of this same human propensity to block out a distraction to such a degree that we are unaware of its presence and our rote response to it. So often I find myself involved in the lives of others who are experiencing some speed bumps on the road of life—some real distractions. Their distraught minds seem paralyzed by the hardship and they become spiritually limp and silent until it passes. To me the cause often seems obvious, and the resolve so simple, but they have blocked out God and overlooked His solution—a piece of life passes them by.
We need to be reminded, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. (Ps 46:1)” “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all. (Psalm 34:19).” “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)” “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. (Psalm 46:1)” “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)”