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.

Why the Lord is my Shepherd

We once had some sheep. It was not a long relationship so I’m not an expert, but I do remember a few things about them. They were easily spooked, curious to the point of constantly getting into trouble, and they followed each other without paying much attention to where they were going. The word ‘mindless’ seems to fit. They were also smelly and difficult to keep clean.

Some people think sheep are cuddly, but that is seldom correct. For the most part, they resist everything you want from them. It is somewhat humbling to realize that Jesus most often used sheep as a metaphor for His disciples . . .

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. (John 10:27)

However, He also used ‘shepherd’ as a metaphor for Himself . . .

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. 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.”

At the time, His disciples did not understand, so He went on . . .

“Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 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.”

He also explained that He came to save the lost without distinction. That meant both Jews and Gentiles would respond to His invitation . . .

“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. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.” (John 10:1–18)

Some refused to believe Him and were not included, but those who are in His sheepfold know Him. He saves them, prays for them, cares for them, and gives them eternal life. What a joy to be able to say, “The Lord is my Shepherd” and at the same time be humbled to hear Him say, “My sheep . . . .”

*****************************************

Jesus, indeed You are my shepherd. As I am a ‘sheep’ I realize my need for You. Without You, I would be in constant peril because of my sheep-like nature. Without You, my life would be unclean, full of sin. You care for me and watch over me. Your rod and staff correct me, keep me from harm, and guide me in the way I should go. Truly, when I compare myself to those silly sheep, I shudder to think what my life would be like without You.

A deeper satisfaction

He restores my soul . . . (Psalm 23:3)

Yesterday we attended Greenville, SC Highland Games. One of the events was a sheepdog demonstration. The dogs were amazing, but I watched the sheep with greater interest. Without any directing from the shepherd to the dogs, all those sheep wanted to do was fill their bellies. When they were being ‘herded’ they ran willy-nilly, perhaps terrified but certainly without thinking about what they were doing. If the shepherd left them alone, they chomped.

No wonder God says we are like sheep. Today’s verses point to how easily we wander, not thinking about what we are doing until we get lost or run out of food. The most obvious biblical illustration of this is the story Jesus told about the prodigal son . . . 

There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.’

Most of us know the rest of the story. The father was waiting and welcomed him home, just as our heavenly Father is eager that we be restored from our wanderings. This earthly father said, “Let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.” (Luke 15:11–24)

What makes a child of the Father want to squander God’s best gifts or waste his inheritance? Sin is the root of it, a sinful hunger that begins with “I want . . .” and cannot resist temptation’s lure. We are all guilty. God says, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way” just like those sheep at the games, wandering wherever the food is, there they are.

However, those sheep were without hope. They would always be silly sheep. Forgiveness for their wandering was not an issue either. They had no concern about a penalty for their wayward ways.

For us it is different. God is just and must punish sin, yet for His sheep, the punishment didn’t happen the way that seems just because “. . . the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6) meaning that Jesus, the Lamb of God, bore sin’s awful penalty on the cross of Calvary.

Certainly God has different expectations of His sheep. He tells us to watch our appetites and gives us the Holy Spirit to help us. He says things like . . . “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world” . . . and backs it up with a reason why . . .  “And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:15–17)

Those sheep could not see beyond the end of their noses or their stomachs, but God gives us a glimpse of eternity. We know that there is more to life than this world and a greater satisfaction than any of it can provide. Because of Jesus Christ, God’s sheep are not herded but led. We make mistakes and sometimes give in to temptation, but His promises hold – and we have an eternal hope that goes much farther than merely placating those worldly I-wants.

Sheep also have a ‘pecking order’

He makes me lie down in green pastures . . . (Psalm 23:2)

We used to have a few chickens. The term “pecking order” is very real in these competitive birds. Today I read that the same exists in sheep. It is called “butting order” as they assert themselves for status in the flock. Obviously, sheep do not lie down and rest when there is conflict.

The inference is obvious in the lives of God’s people. We cannot be at rest when we are competing for position or status. This kind of friction takes our eyes off the Shepherd and not only ruins our fellowship with each other, but spoils our corporate witness of God’s grace in our lives.

God uses this image of butting sheep to describe what He will do with them . . .

I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice. (Ezekiel 34:15–16)

This is good news for those on the bottom of the “butting order” as the Shepherd promises to nurture and take care of them, but His words to the ‘winners’ in this competitiveness is just the opposite . . .

As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and male goats. Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of clear water, that you must muddy the rest of the water with your feet? And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet?  . . . Behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad, I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep. And I will set up over them one shepherd . . . (Ezekiel 34:17–23)

In Ezekiel, the one shepherd is David, yet the entire OT points to the ultimate Shepherd, Jesus Christ. He settles disputes and is able to bring foolish sparing to nothing. When James and John butted heads, the disciples were indignant, but Jesus said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:41–45)

One preventative for in-fighting in the family of God is to be occupied with serving together. A pastor described something he noticed as a young man playing football. If he was benched for any reason and not soon put back into the game, he began to gripe against the coach, then the others on the team. He said if being set aside lasted too long, he might even start cheering for the other side.

We are like that. We need our Shepherd to keep us working together and giving our lives in service. When our focus is helping others to come under the care of our Shepherd, then all of us can be led to those green pastures and enjoy them as one flock.

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! (Psalm 133:1)