It is easy to be distracted.  Some of you will begin reading this and not make it to the end because something else catches your attention.  It is as if someone is yelling “hey batter, batter . . . Swing” just to make us miss something.  What if the thing we miss is essential?  What if we miss something great because we are paying attention to something that is meant to distract us?  Satan desires to keep us distracted.  He wants us to be blinded to God’s work and God’s blessings.  This has been a strategy since the Garden of Eden.  In Genesis 3 we have the first account of Satan distracting man from the work and blessings of God.

Think of all that Adam and Eve had at their disposal.  In Genesis 2:16, they are told that they can eat from every tree of the garden, except . . .  Yes, we like to focus on the except.  We mull it over in our minds and let it become the focus of our thoughts.  Do you see the strategy?  Let’s go back to chapter 2.  At this point, Adam and Eve seem fine with this exception.  After all, they have every other tree in the garden to eat from.  God’s work and blessings are abundant.  They are content with the blessings, but things change in chapter 3.  Here is that deceptive strategy.

The serpent (Satan) begins to distract them with what they cannot have.  That’s right . . . He yells “hey batter, batter” and they swing.  They are so distracted that they forget the abundant work and blessings they are satisfied within chapter 2.  We don’t know how big the Garden of Eden was, but let’s speculate for a minute.  The Virginia Department of Forestry suggests that a Christmas tree farm can plant about 1,037 trees per acre of land.  So, let’s imagine that the Garden of Eden is only 2 acres.  Now, we will fill that with only 1/3 of the suggested trees.  That leaves us with about 691 trees planted in the Garden.  That means that Adam and Eve have access to 99.997% of the trees.  They are only forbidden from eating 0.003%.  What a significant difference!

It seems illogical to be enticed by that little number, but that is the way Satan works.  There are times you may be distracted by the 0.003%, but don’t swing.  Don’t let Satan make you miss recognizing the abundant work and blessing of God in your life.  Don’t miss out on God’s goodness because you are focusing on what you do not have; you might not have it for a reason.