Divine Distractions

Read time: 8 minutes

 "I absolutely love distractions"
                              -No One Ever

“I absolutely love distractions,” said no one ever. This is true of course with the oddball exception. Distractions by their nature pull us away from something that we are focused on, engaged with, and potentially enjoying. However, just as a social experiment for the next 3 minutes: Let’s pretend you never heard the concept of “distraction.” Remove all your pre-conceived notions of the word and emotional attachments. Now pick any random event that seemed to pull your attention over the course of the past week. Big, small, doesn’t matter. Pick one. Could be your cat running across your computer as you worked from home. Could be your son or daughter tugging on your shirt while you were paying bills. Could be the boss calling while you are bingeing your favorite show (try out the show [The Chosen] if you haven’t yet).

Anyways, normal digression. Now take the time to observe that event from all angles. Don’t judge it, just be mindful of it. Become aware of how it started, how it ended, where it came from. Think about what you felt in that moment. Now here’s the real challenge: Try to find the good in it. If it was a gift or message from God, what did it mean? If nothing jumps out after a minute or so, it probably was what it was. And of course there are truly bad distractions. However, sometimes, we move so fast, that we do not even realize God is trying to tug at our sleeve. He is whispering to us as we are screaming at our kids running through the house. Or perhaps He is shouting as we are running out the door to the next event life has to throw at us. The “mindfulness craze,” if you will, is simply the strong spiritual forces at work trying to get us to listen. It is important now more than ever that we stop, take a breath, and listen. If that “distraction” was truly divine, what a shame it would be if we missed it. For God embeds many spiritual messages in the physical world.

Now that I have your attention (God willing), let’s take this whole experiment one step further. What if, and bear with me on the pun – we viewed not all distractions as “diss tracks” to our traction, but weighed them for DI-vine interference of STR-ategic ACTIONS. While I would be the first to admit that not all distractions come from God, I do believe that God is present in every moment. And if God is present in every moment, we must be aware of His presence, ultimately trying to soak up and preserve the good from it. Even Job, from his darkest moment took the opportunity to be mindful of His glory and praise God (Job 1:20-22).

DI_vine interference of _STR_ategic _ACTIONS

Take one more moment to ponder on the following questions about distractions before we jump into the applications.

_What if some distractions were gifts from God in order to create awareness of an individual, concept, or lesson?

What if God actually wanted to pull you from what you are doing, and what you are doing is the real distraction?

How can we discern between “diss tracks” and divine interference?

Don’t be a Martha

MARTHA, MARTHA, MARTHA! Okay, bad joke – and probably too old for most of the audience here (google it!)

Nevertheless, in a very real biblical example – one that all of us can relate to – Yeshua (Jesus) was welcomed into the house of Martha after entering a village. While Martha was about the house (probably cleaning up), Mary was attentive to their guest Jesus and washing his feet. And although this story is short, Jesus makes the point abundantly clear:

“Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42, KJV)

There are actually two accounts of this story, albeit the second quite brief and only mentioning Mary washing Yeshua’s feet (John 11: 1-2). The Bible says a lot about two witnesses but that is for another post. The point being, Mary is recognized for this feat (heh heh, see what I did there). And although Martha probably thought that her rushing around and serving everyone was critical to serving God, it was not what Yeshua wanted (or needed). Jesus knew that time on earth is short, and it was and has always been most important for those he loves to draw near to him, rather than rush around the house cleaning up or preparing food. How many times do we think we are Mary, when we are actually Martha? #foodforthought

Many of us welcome Yeshua into our homes. But what do we do with him once he is there? Do we sit at his feet and worship the Word of God? Or are we focused on worldly tasks? It is important that we continuously examine our goals to determine if these are the right goals or merely distractions (and vice versa!).

It is not a matter of “spending time” but rather “redeeming time” and doing it wisely (again, another post).

Dangerous Distractions

To reiterate – I’m not saying all distractions are good. In fact, we live in a world with constant distraction. If we are constantly distracted we are never focused. As discussed, we need to be present in each moment. That’s why the general approach of mindfulness in the moment with an ability to discern distractions is the ultimate goal. In the next section, we will dive into ‘distraction discernment’ a bit more. For now, it is important to understand the framework of a dangerous distraction. I would first frame it in the light of a few other tests.

First, the “Deuteronomy 13 Test” is taken directly from the chapter of it’s namesake. Going right to the source it states:

“If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.” (Deuteronomy 13:1-4, KJV)

I know this is somewhat abstract, but bear with me. The point here is that God will never contradict or go against His own word. His Word is perfect and unchanging. He would never give you a distraction (especially from a person), which leads to other idols or false gods. He would never send a distraction which is telling you to do something contradictory to His own instructions. He has built an everlasting covenant with us, and it is critical that we know those covenants and commandments inside and out as part of our ability to discern and employ wisdom.

Second – and let’s name this one so it’s easy to remember too – “The Philippians Test.” Here we have a positive description of clean thinking and being, rather than a scenario of false prophets. Paul writes:

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” (Philippians 4:8, KJV)

As the Deuteronomy 13 Test gives us guidance that nothing should go against God’s will and written laws, the Philippians Test gives us an outline of the nature and guidance surrounding His spirit. Nothing should also go against the nature of God’s spirit. It is true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and good. If a distraction does not meet all of these criteria, you can easily push it away. Just remember, these words are according to God’s definition, not yours (or mine). The true definition of good does not follow our connotation of good. It’s not about “tasting good” or “smelling good”. That’s how the world defines good. Good in God’s language – ‘tov’ in Hebrew – means according to His will. And there we have a bridge to the first test!

Unplanned Assignments

…Speaking of Divine Interference…

As I was writing this, I came across a really great write up by Jon Bloom at [DesiringGod.org] entitled “Holy Distractions.” I don’t believe in coincidences as you have learned, when it comes to God’s timing and intentionality. In fact, if you don’t get the door the first time, he will knock (and knock) again. Just as He asks you to knock and seek Him daily.

I don’t want to give a review or synopsis of that article here. I will always encourage you to go to the source. Just remember that the one true source is scripture. And that scripture (even in the New Testament) refers to the Old Testament!

What I will say is that I wholeheartedly agree with the concept of unplanned – or as the article refers to it – “Parabolic Assignment”. As discussed above, sometimes we have a plan, but God has another. He may let us walk towards our goal only to show us a greater path later on in our journey. We see priority from a different height and landscape as God. You can guess which is truer, wiser and more important. With this in mind, we must remember all of the parables of Yeshua and especially the parable of the Good Samaritan. In our day and age, it is common to pass by people struggling. If you only take away one thing from this article, it’s that God would rather have you help another person than help yourself.

Now imagine if every person in society implemented that one takeaway today.

“But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.” (Luke 10:33-37, KJV)

Takeaways to make a way…

-Approach each moment with a mindful discernment
-Take a moment to listen to God
-Be more like Mary
-Use scripture to test truth
-Go out of your way to help someone else

Further Study with your Buddy…

Coming Soon…

Questions for Reflection…

What distractions have you had today?
Have you had any recurring distractions?
What do you use to test truth?
How do you define good? Does it fit with God’s definition?
How can you help someone today? And tomorrow?