Distractions
We live in a time when distractions are commonplace. It’s now gotten to the point where we don’t feel normal when we aren’t preoccupied! Technology doesn’t make it easier either. As a consequence, a lot of people struggle to stay focused on the task before them. We easily allow all sorts of things into our hearts and minds and these things spring up and distract us round the clock throughout the day! Discipline and self-control are required to resist distractions. The Holy Spirit can help us with this.
Let’s take a look at Proverbs 4:23-27, ESV :
23 Keep your heart with all vigilance,
for from it flow the springs of life.
24 Put away from you crooked speech,
and put devious talk far from you.
25 Let your eyes look directly forward,
and your gaze be straight before you.
26 Ponder the path of your feet;
then all your ways will be sure.
27 Do not swerve to the right or to the left;
turn your foot away from evil.
The wise King Solomon starts off by encouraging us to mind our hearts. The advice that follows cannot be taken in without first understanding that the journey of your life is dependent on how you keep your heart. It will influence your decisions, attitude and mindset. It is of utmost importance to filter what you take in because there are lots of information out there (see Seeking Wise Counsel). Everyone seems to have ‘wisdom’ to offer. But you must apply the filter of the word of God to the word of men. This is one way to keep your heart. Whatever you let into your heart will influence the activities in your life.
Verse 25-27 ‘Let your eyes look directly forward…ponder the path of your feet… Do not swerve to the right or to the left’. When you keep on wondering what others around you are doing it will be impossible for you to keep your gaze straight ahead. Do you ‘ponder the path of your feet’?
We live in a day and age where we are forced to make quick decisions. There are times when quick decisions simply have to be made but many times the reason we end up in holes deeper than we anticipated is because we didn’t ponder the path of our feet. According to Webster’s 1828 dictionary, to ponder is defined as ‘to think or consider especially quietly, soberly, and deeply.’
Pondering should not be done in a rush, instead, you need to take out some time, even if it’s just a few minutes, and examine what is before you. Focusing on the path God has mapped out for you, and using the light of God’s word as a lamp unto your path to ensure that you don’t ‘swerve to the right or to the left’ is essential. There have been times in my life where I made decisions without really thinking of the journey that decision would take me on. What others were doing around me distracted me from focusing on the steps God wanted me to take. What were the results? Wasted time, resources and energy. We see this in 1 Kings 13 as well.
In 1 Kings 13:1-10, God commands a young prophet to go to Bethel and pronounce judgement on the ungodly king Jeroboam. The scene was so dramatic and filled with power. Scripture reveals that king Jeroboam’s hands were ‘dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself’ and ‘the altar also was torn down, and the ashes poured out from the altar’. On the young prophet’s journey back an older prophet meets him and tries to convince him to come to his house for some food. The young prophet resists and explains that God cautioned him that he must ‘not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came’. But the old prophet lied and said; “I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the LORD: `Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water’’. The young prophet gave in and ends up being destroyed by a lion.
Regardless of the source, any word outside God’s word or command to your life is a distraction.
The young prophet initially resisted the distraction presented by the old prophet but when the distraction was presented as the ‘word of God’, he fell and was destroyed. Let’s take a step back and look at this more deeply. Can you imagine how much the younger prophet may have revered the older prophet? Surely the older prophet hears from God and has years of experience walking with the Lord behind him. How could he for a second have anticipated that the old prophet was lying to him about what God had revealed? This is the worst type of distraction. A distraction birthed in ‘the name of God’ by someone that we look up to. It is also very likely that the old prophet’s invitation appealed to the young prophet’s flesh. I suspect that the young prophet may have been quite hungry and would have appreciated some food and rest after the long journey! People in our lives may mean no harm when they try to convince us to change our minds regarding a decision by saying ‘the Holy Spirit is moving me to tell you…’’. But at the end of the day, if that’s not actually what the Lord wants you to do, just like the young prophet, you will be the one to bear the consequences if you give in!
Regardless of the source, any word outside God’s word or command to your life is a distraction. Don’t allow anyone or anything to distract you from what God has told you to do. Situations, people and things must not overtake the steps God has told you to take as His child. A close and continuous walk with God is abiding by what God said to you before and in the midst of a distraction. Time is precious and distractions are nothing but time wasters. What distractions do you have in your life that you need to get rid of? Take out some time and examine yourself today. May the Lord help you to ‘keep your heart with all vigilance’.
