By King When We’re Under Attack (Distractions)
Nehemiah was under attack. He had high-ranking enemies that were threatened by the work he was doing, so they started spreading rumors in order to intimidate him. They made him think that his enemies were surrounding him, lurking behind every corner. But Nehemiah had his eyes focused on the right place. He was focused on his King and his calling, not on the commotion around him.
Our attention is constantly under attack. Websites brag about how long they’re able to keep our eyes glued to their pages. The more time we spend being distracted, the more money many of these companies make.
The entire time the disciples walked with Jesus, they were constantly distracted by unimportant preoccupations and concerns.
“Who will be the greatest Jesus?”
“Who sinned Jesus?”
“Who will sit at your left and your right Jesus?”
“Where will we get enough bread Jesus?”
And once Jesus died, and they were all alone that Saturday, I’m sure they were 100x more distracted than usual.
“Was it all for nothing?”
“Did I spend the last three years of my life following a mad man?”
“Was I sure that Jesus was the Messiah?”
“Did He fool us all?”
“What will we do now?”
When we allow these distractions space in our minds, we don’t have enough space to focus on Christ as well. It’s either our hopelessness or our hope; our faith or our failure; our crisis or our Christ.
Don’t let your imagination be crushed by life as a whole. Don’t try to picture everything bad that could possibly happen.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 8.36a
The stoic Marcus Aurelius understood this well. He knew that we can’t allow distractions to own our focus. Later in his journal, he writes:
You can discard most of the junk that clutters your mind –things that exist only there– and clear out space for yourself:
…by comprehending the scale of the world
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 9.32
…by contemplating infinite time
…by thinking of the speed with which things change–each part of everything; the narrow space between our birth and death; the infinite time before; the equally unbounded time that follows.
He knew that there is something more deserving of our focus, a better fit for our mind. He just didn’t realize that the “something more” was Jesus! Jesus deserves our whole attention and trust!
Question: When do you feel like Nehemiah? When do you feel overwhelmed and under attack?
Challenge: Be like Nehemiah! Tell your fear, your distractions, your doubts: “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?” I’m too busy for this craziness, I’m too busy obeying God!