Chasing Illusions

One of my buddies is a pretty good magician. He has mastered the art of illusion. Over the years, I became his set up man for his tricks we would do in trainings. Because of my investment, I got to see behind the scenes to each illusion. One of our favorites was a disappearing coin. He would show someone two different coins of different sizes and have them open their hands. He then placed a coin in each of their hands. We would have them close their hands on the coin and identify which was larger. They then clasped their hands, shook them up and separated again. Once they identified the larger coin, they would open their hand and show us. When they opened the other hand, it was a coin exactly like the other. They always wanted to know where the smaller coin went. So he would send them back to their seat and it would be in their book or purse, and neither of us moved.

All illusions trick the brain into believing something other than what’s true. Once the brain believes it, it’s very difficult to convince it otherwise. There are so many illusions that our enemy uses to distract us, and to get us off the paths God has for us. We end up chasing something that looks good, and our brain believes is good, but in the end, it’s just an illusion that distracts us from what God wants. We all fall for them because we’re human and the devil is a master deceiver. He is constantly trying to disrupt our focus, our direction and our relationship with God. His goal is to get us to believe something other than what God said or meant. Think of Adam and Eve in the garden. The fruit was the illusion to distract with the belief that God was holding out on them. The moment they fell for it, they realized they had been fooled.

The main way to combat the illusions and lies of our enemy is to know God’s Word and put it in our heart that we might not sin against God (Psalm 119:11). David knew this importance and wrote a prayer just a few verses later. It says in verse 37, “Help me turn my eyes away from illusions so that I pursue only that which is true; drench my soul with life as I walk in your paths” (TPT). Asking God to help us keep our eyes on Him is another important thing we can do to keep from falling for illusions. Any accomplished magician has mastered the art of distraction. So has our enemy. Keep your eyes on Jesus, stay in His Word and pray that you stay focused on Him. The enemy’s illusions end up leaving you empty handed chasing after something that isn’t real, but God’s paths lead to fulfillment and life.

Thanks to @omkarn285 for making this photo available freely on @unsplash