The Danger of Escaping into Entertainment

I am a HUGE fan of fantasy stories.

I love sitting on my couch and reading about adventurous journeys, magical conundrums, fantastical places, and dragons. Especially dragons.

I love being able to escape from life for even just a little while and often get lost in my books for hours at a time.

Maybe the way you escape from life’s problems is through playing video games, scrolling through social media, or watching the next episode of your favorite show.

But is it right to withdraw from life in this manner?

Why We Withdraw

To really answer if escaping from life is right or not, we must first understand why we’re escaping.

In life, we all face the hardships of our broken world. These hardships come in varying forms –a broken arm, stressful family relationship, or the death of a loved one. When faced with trials like these, is it our desire to go deeper into the pain and feel the misery even more? Of course not! We want to hide from the pain and discomfort instead of addressing and processing through it. We desire to escape from the difficult situation.

To do this, we often turn to our favorite entertainment to provide an escape from reality. But is this trusting in God?

A Prime Example of Hardship

David, the second king of Israel, constantly faced trials and hardship. An entire book of the Bible was dedicated to his cries to God throughout his life. But let’s zoom in on the part of his life where he was on the run from Saul.

While enemies surrounded him and he was starving and scared, we see what he says to God in Psalm 23:1-4:

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”

David does not escape from his trials by turning to some worldly pleasure, but rather he escapes into God! What an amazing concept! That the eternal Creator and Sustainer of the universe can and will give us a greater liberation from trials than any earthly thing ever could.

So how can we follow David’s example and escape into God?

Escaping into God

In Isaiah 41:10, God provides us with the foundation we need to answer this question.

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed for I am your God: I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

Looking at this passage, we can see that God makes a lot of promises. He promises that:

· “I am with you” – We will never be alone in our tribulations.

· “I will strengthen you” – He will give us the strength we need to endure life’s struggles.

· “I will help you” – He will not hold back His aid.

· “I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” – He will preserve and protect us.

If we trust that God will hold true to these promises, we have no reason to turn to entertainment for escape. Rather, we have every reason to be unafraid and escape into God!

How Does This Change Our Lives

I am not saying we need to eliminate entertainment from our lives. We only need to make sure that we are not using entertainment as a placeholder for the peace that only God brings.

Next time you’re having a hard day or just went through a difficult conversation, don’t crack open your book, turn on your Xbox, or play your Spotify playlist. Instead, cry out to your everlasting Father for help. Open your Bible and see what His word has for you.

I know this isn’t easy. And God doesn’t promise us it will be easy. But He does promise us that He will help us do His will.

So, in the coming days and weeks, let’s change our lives. Let’s do the hard thing and turn to Him in hardship instead of entertainment. For He provides the rest we really need.