When my grandson was five years old, he had already figured out how to use my phone better than I could! His favorite part of my phone was voice command. He could ask the woman on the phone if it was going to rain, to play his favorite song, or to help his granny find directions to the closest ice cream store. One night, he was learning to write and asked the phone to spell the words, letter by letter while he wrote them. I didn’t even know the phone could do that!

One night I asked my grandson a question. “Griffin, who are you talking to when you ask the phone a question?” He looked at me, and I could see his mind trying to find an answer to my question. His face was confused and puzzled as he tried to figure out who the woman on the voice command was. Finally he said, “I guess she is my . . . my friend?”

He had no idea that his “friend” on the voice command was not a person. He knew that the voice came from the phone, and he knew the voice didn't belong to anyone he knew; but he was confused. My grandson is not the only one confused about reality in a world that is changing faster than we can keep up with. It is increasingly difficult to know what is real, who is telling the truth, and what or who is leading us where we do not want to go. It is time to be discerning and careful or we will find ourselves filled with the “delusions” and enamored with the “false gods” that Psalm 4 warns us about.