What about distractions?

Exodus 31; Proverbs 7; John 10; Galatians 6

Last night I was reading a book on prayer that focused mostly on the difficulty of focus. This has been a major problem in my life, not just focus in prayer but in anything. I’m easily distracted, particularly in my studio because it is full of  color, quilt and other creative projects, a desk with computer and books, exercise equipment, photographs, music CDs and Google Home, sewing machines, filing cabinet, cabinets full of supplies and project boxes, and wheeled storage drawers also full of ideas and project material. Just walking through to get a pencil without stopping to check out something else is a challenge.

The book convicted me. How can focus be improved — for prayer and for life? God answered me in today’s reading in Proverbs with a warning to a young man to avoid seductive women who lead the naïve into sin. It begins with:

My (child), keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you; keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye; bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. (Proverbs 7:1–3)

This chapter could be skipped for I’m not a man, but as I read it, I thought what if it was talking about the distractions that keep me from focusing on the Lord and on the activities that He wants me to do? What if those seductive distractions are as dangerous to my life as a prostitute is to the life of a young man?

That thought was immediately tested. I glanced over at the quilt on my design wall and thought about my plan to improve it. My mind leaped away from the Scripture I was reading to the color choices I needed to make. There is nothing wrong with working on a project or making such decisions, but that was not where God wanted me to be at that time. I was supposed to be sitting down with Him, thinking about His principles and listening for His voice. The idea of this distraction being like the temptation to the young man in Proverbs 7 was fresh and immediately put my heart back to where it was supposed to be. A vivid example. Will it stick?

John 10 talks about Jesus being my shepherd. It describes His care for me and as I think about sheep, no animal could be more easily distracted. I had a flock of sheep once. They were curious, flighty and almost brainless in their ability to go wherever a distraction would lead them. Jesus’ audience knew this. They also knew that a good shepherd would never allow them to be led into danger.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly . . . . He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.” (John 10:10; 12–15)

As His listeners heard this, they asked if He was their Messiah. Jesus answered them,

“I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” (John 10:24–29)

APPLY: In context of allowing distractions, I need to remember that His sheep do not  follow the voice of another but stay focused on His leading. I also need to remember His words from Galatians: “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.” (Galatians 6:7) Thinking of them as seducing me is a strong and helpful image. The distractions may seem innocent yet they will keep me from hearing what Jesus says and for that, I will suffer the consequences.

All we, like sheep . . .

Sheep are not like cattle. When I was a teen, we often moved cattle from one farm to another (my uncles lived in the same community). They resisted and had to be driven. We used vehicles and horses to press them in the right direction. Sheep are not like that. If you try to drive them, they scatter. Instead, they must be led.

For a short time, I had some sheep. They are not easy animals to care for and leading them requires a ‘relationship’ — otherwise they did not know my voice. Because I didn’t have time to develop that intimacy with those critters, I was a stranger to them and they were always scattering. Eventually I gave up and sold the flock.

Jesus used sheep to illustrate His relationship with His people. Once that relationship is formed by grace through faith, we know His voice and follow Him:

“The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” (John 10:3–5)

In New Testament times, all the sheep grazed together, but at night each shepherd called their flock and they followed him to a sheepfold where they were safe from wolves and other predators. Out of hundreds of other animals and dozens of shepherds, each sheep turned only to their own owner:

“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” (John 10:14–16)

In these verses, Jesus uses shepherding to explain how His people know His voice, but also to say that this relationship has several astonishing qualities. First, that intimacy between believers and Him is the same intimacy that characterizes the relationship between God the Father and God the Son. This is incredible and at first seems a bit of an exaggeration. However, Jesus tells the truth and this produces a desire in my heart to more deeply explore and enjoy this great intimacy.

Second, Jesus plainly says He lays down His life for the sheep. This is a present tense verb. I’m not a Greek scholar, but this seems to indicate more than His death on the Cross. My dictionary says laying down means “to give up or set aside” along with the idea of being prone. Could He be saying that Jesus gives His all for His sheep all the time? He died for us, yet He also lives for us and forever intercedes for us. Amazing.

Third, there are other sheep. They were not His at the time, but He said they will be. He is talking about Gentiles, yet in a larger sense, He indicates that more people will eventually join His flock and there will be one flock, one body of Christ, a church of those who are in relationship with Jesus. There will also be unity.

The people who crowded around Jesus were divided. Some asked Him to tell them plainly if He was their Messiah. He answered them:

“I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” (John 10:24–29)

^^^^^^^

Jesus, with that, You said that we who are in an intimate relationship with You not only hear, know, and follow You, we also have eternal life (eternal means eternal) and no one can steal us away from You. We are safe in Your care. This is precious and blessed assurance, for me about myself, but also about those who have gone before me. All those who die believing in You are safe in Your care, safe as sheep in the care of a good, good shepherd.