The Obsessive Nature Of Affliction

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Psalm 73:26 (NIV) 

If you step on a nail, all of your attention is drawn toward the pain in your foot. It is very hard to focus upon anything else. So it is with those living with affliction. These thorns in our flesh are continually drawing the focus of our attention to the pain, suffering, and general misery they cause. 

It is our challenge to avoid letting affliction steal away our attention and bit by bit our very lives. When you have an affliction that does not go away, how do you keep it from stealing away your life? How do you prevent it from robbing you of focus better spent on your family and friends or pretty much anything else? This is the challenge everyone faces with affliction. 

To some extent it is useful for us to share our burdens, be honest about how we are feeling, and not bottle up our emotions. But there is a point when our afflictions go from needing our attention to absorbing all our thoughts. 

Years ago, there was someone I spent about a week with, and they did nothing but complain about their affliction and problems with their mate. After several days of this endless droning on I could take no more, I confronted them with their endless obsession with the two issues, I did so firmly but gently. I did not enjoy the confrontation and neither did they. 

Sometimes, even though it is hard when we are already under so much stress from affliction, we must take command of our affliction rather than let it take command of our lives. I'm not suggesting we can “will away” the reality of our affliction, but we can redirect our attention, our words, and with practice, even our thoughts away from being obsessed by our afflictions. 

If you find that affliction has become the center of your world, I would encourage you to forcefully redirect your attention to other important things around you. Look at the good things in life, call upon the Lord to aid you, and refuse to let affliction become the centerpiece of your life. 

Prayer: Dear Lord, when our affliction begins to take the first place in our lives, help us to move it out of the way and allow You to have that position. Amen. 

Karlton Douglas 

Copyright 2017