Focusing Forward: Recognizing and Overcoming DistractionSample

In chapter 4 of Nehemiah, we begin to see an intensified distraction and threats of a disruption to the wall building by two enemies, Sanballat and Tobiah the Ammonite. These two enemies obviously had nothing better to do than to taunt and torment Nehemiah and his workers. It’s almost impossible to read chapter 4 and not get a little aggravated by how hard they were trying to stop the rebuilding of this wall. So when they couldn’t get through to Nehemiah, they began to threaten the Jews who lived near them (see v. 10–12). Nehemiah had to intentionally create boundaries around the wall by setting guards around the exposed areas so that the work could be completed. After he did this, he created a strategy for getting the work done while still keeping the wall guarded.

But before he did all of those things, he implemented a key tool that can help us when we need to handle the distractions and disruptions that come our way. He prayed this prayer:

Hear us, our God, for we are being mocked. May their scoffing fall back on their own heads, and may they themselves become captives in a foreign land! Do not ignore their guilt. Do not blot out their sins, for they have provoked you to anger here in front of the builders. (v. 4–5, NLT)

This prayer is powerful. It specifically addresses the distractions and disruptions that threaten our assignment and shows how to handle them. In this passage of scripture, we see Nehemiah being bombarded by the enemy, but what I love about this is how Nehemiah handles it. First, he doesn’t identify the enemy as his own enemy, as we sometimes tend to do when someone is trying to stop a work we have felt called to do. He talks to God and highlights what God’s enemy is doing against His greater work and how he is provoking God to anger. He then asks God to handle the enemy in a specific way that will not allow the enemy’s tactics to go unnoticed and unhandled.

Nehemiah doesn’t make the things that are distracting him about the completion of his own work, but rather about the completion of God’s work. 

I am not saying that every disruption or distraction is from an enemy, but the ones that are should be handled in just this way so that we can refocus. And the ones that are not we should evaluate. For example, sometimes distractions indicate a mismanagement of our time during an earlier part of the day. I know that for me, sometimes when my children want to talk with me when they should be going to bed is because they weren’t able to have a conversation with me in the earlier part of the day because I was busy. So I have to take that into consideration and see how I may be sabotaging my own potential focus.

Other distractions are obvious indications that the enemy is wanting to cause me to not complete a task that will bring God glory. It is in moments like this that we can ask God to intervene on our behalf against Satan’s schemes. This is exactly what Nehemiah does.

What things are distracting you and how can you set up boundaries so that you can experience greater focus in your kingdom assignment?

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