Defining the Title
If you don’t know what I mean by “Cacophonous Flabbergasts,” don’t worry; I’ll explain it for you.
You wake up in the morning, turn on the radio and/or television, and check your email, Twitter, and Facebook accounts. If you have time, you read a quick devotion and say a 30-second prayer of thanks for a new day.
As you eat breakfast, if you don’t distract yourself with meaningless, mind-numbing popular music, you turn on CNN, FOX, or some other network and hear nothing but depressing, irritating, and ultimately out-of-your-control news and propaganda (unless you watch Al Jazeera – nothing but objective truth). You may even learn a new recipe.
On the way to and from work you get bombarded by advertising created to snag your attention and your money. During breaks, and then later at home, even while doing other things, even while eating, you subject yourself to social media: cat videos; news stories; gossip; pictures of nude celebrities; images of ISIS victims; and things others have, but you want. When bedtime comes you’re ready for sleep, except one more game on the iPad must be played…then another…then answer an instant message…
Cacophonous flabbergasts: Incessantly loud noises and distractions made up of circumstances and situations – some controllable, some not – meant to sap our strength and weaken us, both physically and spiritually; the overwhelming, unending waves of life that eventually knock us off our feet and drown us.
The Result
If it’s not one thing, it’s another. If it’s not terrorism, it’s a phone call. If it’s not the stock market in trouble, it’s a friend with marital problems. If it’s not too many things on the schedule, it’s not enough money to pay the bills. If it’s not another unexpected illness that insurance won’t cover, it’s the water being turned off as you’re washing your hair, late to an interview.
The waves of life have a way of taking our eyes off Jesus, don’t they?
When we take our eyes off of Jesus; when we get distracted by all the upheaval, the noise, the shifting surface which continually gives way beneath our feet; there’s no peace, only fear, which leads to doubt, anger, depression, etc.
Much like Peter, whether intentionally or not, we allow the cacophonous flabbergasts to drown out His voice and divert our attention, and we become afraid
But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid… – Matthew 14:30
Change Your Focus
I don’t know about you, but I’ve let a lot of what is going on in the world get me down. I’ve let the bills make me worry. I’ve let a lot of bad stuff take my focus of Christ. I’ve been flabbergasted by the cacophony of trials and tribulations.
What about you?
Maybe we should do as Peter did when he began to sink. Maybe we should quit looking at the waves and turn our focus back on Christ. Maybe we should cry out, “Lord, save me!”
And immediately Jesus stretched forth [his] hand, and caught him… – Matthew 14:31
He did, and He will.
The Recovering Legalist 