Interruptions

 

Maaaaaaahm!! I can hear the child yelling and tugging at her Mom as she tries to make sense of the phone call that she has just answered. It always seems that children have an urgent need just at that moment when Mom has to give her attention to something else.

I think God often feels that way too! More often than I can count, when I sit down to read my Bible or pray (intending to earnestly and fervently do so!), there come a hundred thoughts bombarding me at that moment. Some have real urgency like, “Oh! I forgot to take the garbage out and I hear the truck coming” or “Will Dad live to see another day?”

Some distractions simply have to do with tasks we have to accomplish, or fears of a dreaded medical test or surgery. My rabbit holes often come from new creative ideas I have for some project I’m doing.

Now, I do believe some of these “distracting thoughts” can actually be the Holy Spirit bringing His will to our attention, and I, for one, have had His interruptions of my reading or praying with an idea or a prayer burden that I know He has placed in my head.

Largely though, the interruptions we experience come from our own sinful, self-obsessed natures. Thomas Manton in his Puritan Sermons 1659-1689, lists six causes for haunting distractions that carry us away from the prayer life God wants for us. These six are:

1. Satan is at our right hand ready to resist us in prayer.
   
   
2. We are restless creatures. It is difficult for all of us to concentrate on one object for any length of time.
   
   
3. We are distracted by practical atheism… Things we see have a greater force upon us that the true God who is Spirit and invisible power.
   
   
4. Lust rooted in us will also distract us when we go about any duty.
   
   
5. Fancy and curiosity offered us by the senses or memory, will be an occasion for diversion.
   
   
6. Sharp worries will hinder our faith and draw away our attention from prayer.

He goes on to say that

“We must be like the priests, who went on with their sacrifices as the Roman troops broke into Jerusalem.”

Next time you give yourself to prayer and Bible reading, remember the enemy of distraction which seeks to bring you away from what God wants to say to you and through you. Satan knows the power behind what you are doing. Pray for God’s grace to shut him out!