The Temptation to Numb Out

Most people have a preferred way to numb out when life gets uncomfortable. The scroll. The extra hour of TV. Neither is wrong by itself. But when one of them becomes the place you run every single time you don't want to feel what you're feeling, it stops being a break and starts being an escape hatch. And the more you use it, the better you get at not feeling anything at all.This episode opens with a research experiment. People were put alone in a bare room for 15 minutes with no phone and nothing to read, and asked to just sit and think. Most of them hated it. So the researchers left a device on the table that would give a mild electric shock, one everyone had already tried and said they'd pay to avoid. When the door closed, a striking number of people shocked themselves rather than sit alone with their own thoughts. We will do almost anything to keep from feeling what is going on inside us.Peter gave the early church a short, pointed instruction. 1 Peter 5:8 says, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." Peter is calling for wakefulness, enough alertness that you notice what's happening in you instead of drifting through your days on autopilot. And here's something to notice: the enemy doesn't always come at you with a dramatic sin. Sometimes his whole strategy is just to keep you numb, scrolling, one show deep, so that year after year you never turn and face what God is trying to deal with in you. A person who feels nothing never grows.The way out of numb is presence. Another distraction only digs the rut deeper. Presence means turning off the screen, letting yourself feel the thing you've been running from, and bringing it to God. That's uncomfortable at first, because the stuff you've been avoiding comes up. But that discomfort is the beginning of something changing. Numbing keeps you exactly where you are, frozen, wondering why nothing ever gets better. Presence with God is the thing that moves you.Those people chose a shock over sitting still with their own minds. That's how strong the pull to escape is, and you feel it too. But the shock and the scroll keep you from the one thing that would help most: being present, with yourself and with God, long enough for Him to meet you in it. The discomfort you're avoiding might be the doorway He's standing in.BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU'LL DISCOVER:Why a harmless habit becomes an escape hatch when you run to it every time you don't want to feelWhat 1 Peter 5:8 says about staying awake to your own lifeA simple practice for choosing presence with God over numbing outNumbing keeps you exactly where you are. Presence with God, even when it's uncomfortable, is what moves you forward.Share This Episode:https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/309Need Prayer? Leave me a voicemail:https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/voicemailWant to keep these devotions coming? Please consider supporting this podcast.https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/support/Rate and Reviewhttps://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/reviews/new/Connect with BartFacebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/dailydevotionsforbusylivesWebsite: https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.comFeeling spiritually drained? Start here. Download your free copy of my eBook Making Time for Jesus here: https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/subscribe.