Misdirection

I saw a magician perform when I went to Las Vegas a couple of years ago.  It was really stunning.  He made all sorts of things disappear.  I’m not really sure what the obsession with making things disappear is, but magicians seem to want to do that a lot.  He made a car disappear, a girl disappear, even a tiger.  If it were me, I could think of lots of better subjects; noisy neighborhood dogs, paperwork that I need to fill out, credit card debt.  If I were that magician, I think I would have kept the car, and probably the girl.  However, I would get rid of the tiger.

The funny thing was, the whole time I was watching this magician, I was trying to figure out how it was done.  I mean, these tricks are all variations on a theme that go back years.  Things like smoke and mirrors, sleight of hand, and stuff like that are what make these tricks possible.  But one of the most prominent tools used by every magician is something called “misdirection.”  This is where the magician gets you to focus on something that is irrelevant (there’s the girl again) so that you miss what is important.

I think Satan does the same thing for us.  He gets us focused on stuff that’s irrelevant and we miss what is important.  We focus on all the things we want and miss all that we already have.  We focus on all of our problems and we miss how wonderful life really can be.  We focus on the blessings that we want from God and we miss our relationship with God.  There is really something to be said for “counting your blessings.”  It is such an encouragement to me that I don’t have to fall for this age old trick, I don’t have to be discontent because I’m focusing on the irrelevant and missing the important.