It’s 2:24 on Saturday morning and I’m lying awake in bed.

This has happened to me before, so I said “Here I am Lord” and I waited. Sometimes God gives me article ideas when I wake up in the middle of the night. Sometimes He gives me the answer to a roadblock in an article. Sometimes He gives me the answer to something I have been praying about.

So I waited, but all I heard was silence.

My sleepy mind drifted toward work. I started thinking about putting together this dramatic article about what I had to do on Monday at work. That was ridiculous. Why would I write about that? Why would God want me to write about that? I pushed that thought out of my head. I refocused and listened. Still, silence filled the dark room.

I lay in bed and kept listening, and this time my mind drifted toward some type of party or get together. People were pulling me in different directions, but I brought my focus back on to God and listened.

Nothing.

I must have slipped into half-sleep and started having a semi-conscious dream that a couple of rock concerts were happening in the field near my house. I was going to check them out. Another distraction, I tried to bring my focus back to God.

What did He want me to write? Did He have something in mind, or did I just wake up on my own this time? Maybe I’m just sleepy? No, that’s not it. This isn’t the first time I’ve had the sense I was supposed to write something. Other times I’ve been compelled to get up out of my slumber with an idea in my head, run into the den, and write down a quick outline on a piece of paper while the idea is fresh.

I promised God once before that I wouldn’t ignore the still small voice again, so I listened but it wasn’t there. I tried to focus and not be distracted. I tried to be patient and wait on the Lord. I tried to listen for the still small voice. I tried.

What was the message? Was He trying to tell me to refocus on Him? Was His silence His way of getting my attention? Then I had the message. It didn’t break through the silence, it was the silence.

We all get distracted at times. I knew God didn’t abandon me. He will never abandon me, so I wasn’t worried about that. This wasn’t about God, this was about me. This is about us. Then I noticed the three distractions I faced while I was trying to focus. They were the distractions of work, social gatherings, and public events. They were a warning to put God first and refocus my attention. This is something we all must do, and I knew what He wanted me to write.

It’s 6:00 in the morning. I grabbed a coffee, sat down, turned on the computer, and began to type…

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