The Power Of Escaping Distraction
Exodus 3:2-4 –
‘There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight.” When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called him out of the bush.’
I love this verse from Exodus because it makes it clear that God spoke to Moses because he turned aside to see. He stopped tending his flock, noticed an abnormal sight and turned aside to investigate more closely. Simple, right?
Wrong! Stopping, noticing and turning aside to look for what God’s doing is hard. Our lives are full of distraction. Work, friends, family, all competing for our attention. For me, it’s my phone. The focus of my work on ‘comms’ and my love for Instagram doesn’t help, but I often find it’s my phone I reach for first in the morning and the last thing I look at at night.
We long to hear God’s voice but the demands and noise of our lives make it near impossible to notice what he’s doing in the now! As Ruth Haley Barton* points out, it was solitude that allowed Moses to escape distraction and hear God unexpectedly calling him to Egypt.
A couple of weeks ago, a few of us from the Gas Street Academy spent a night camping in a field outside Birmingham. As we sat round a fire for hours with nothing to do but talk, pray and worship, each of us heard God speak with unbelievable clarity. Why? Because there was absolutely NOTHING to be distracted by! Intentionally positioning ourselves away from the ‘busyness of life’ allowed us to notice what God was doing.
As Elizabeth Dreyer** states, ‘our intentionality is a key ingredient in determining whether we notice God everywhere or only in church or only in suffering or nowhere’.
Intentionally removing distraction looks different for everyone (I’m not saying you need to go and camp mid-November!) but it’s essential that we do. Being aware of what God is doing right now allows us to keep in touch with who he is, who we are and what our world needs!
Reflect – How can you intentionally escape distraction today? What has God been waiting for you to ‘turn aside’ to see?
Prayer – Lord, I’m so sorry for when I’ve been too distracted to notice how you’re moving. I turn away from distraction now and focus on you. Speak to me. Show me what you’re doing today.
*Strengthening the Soul of your leadership (2015)
** Earth Crammed with Heaven (1994)