“Set your gaze on the path before you. With fixed purpose, looking straight ahead, ignore life’s distractions! Watch where you’re going! Stick to the path of truth, and the road will be safe and smooth before you. Don’t allow yourself to be sidetracked even for a moment or take the detour that leads to darkness.” (Proverbs 4:25-27, TPT)
What causes you to look and turn aside? What distracts you and draws your attention?
The bible warns us in several places about being drawn away from distractions that are lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and pride (1 John 2:16). They detour us from God and fulfilling His purposes. From the very beginning in the garden, it was distraction from want for more that led Adam and Eve astray. They ate of the fruit of the tree God told them not to eat of. They were distracted from God’s divine purpose of tending the garden by the fruit they saw.
Riches, immorality, and coveting are some of the distractions that can lead us astray. Just a few bible verses that warn us about these things:
Proverbs 23:5,33 says, “Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven…”
Job 31:1, “I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?”
And the Psalmist in Ps. 119:37 knew that he was easily distracted and drawn away. He prayed earnestly, “Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way.”
Beholding vanity is also translated love of wealth, covetousness and dishonest gain. It is seeking after that which does not really profit. It leads us away from God rather than directly to him. Any distraction is something that causes our attention to go to other places than where God is directing us.
Distractions are often sin. They are worldly temptations that would draw us away from all that God has for us and the path that he has marked out for us. Distractions can also be heart woundings. Being wounded can stifle us, cause us to sit down or even cause us to change our direction from God’s path.
Paul says in Hebrews 12:1, “As for us, we have all of these great witnesses who encircle us like clouds. So we must let go of every wound [arrow] that has pierced us and the sin we so easily fall into. Then we will be able to run life’s marathon race with passion and determination, for the path has been already marked out before us.”
When you are running a race, it is clear the path to follow because it is marked out. There is a path for each one of us that God has already marked out before us. To detour from this path, we have to intentionally go off track for some reason.
Paul goes on to tell us how we stay on the path that leads to life, he says that we need to look away from the natural realm and fasten our gaze onto Jesus, who leads us into by faith into the fullness of His purpose; Just as He; by faith, endured the agony of the cross for the joy set before Him. (Hebrews 12:2)
Our journey with God requires faith. It requires faith to believe that God can and will take us into His purpose for us. It requires us to believe God can do something with our lives and is more than enough to accomplish His purposes.
Moving towards God’s purposes also requires faith to overcome the obstacles that get in the way. Just as running a race is not easy and requires endurance, running our spiritual race will take endurance and stamina.
When we step forward into God’s purposes, we will experience opposition. It will not always be an easy road. Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before Him. It was not an easy path for Him to follow but He set His face like flit and did not falter.
Imagine if in the garden, instead of surrendering to the immense pain He was about to face, that He told Himself, “it just must not be God’s will for me. A loving God would not want me to go through this.” The same with Paul. What if instead of setting his face like flint to Jerusalem where he knew he would endure persecution, he took a side trip to the beach instead? Yet, so many Christians use pain and hardship as a tool for discernment of God’s will. They turn aside when the journey becomes difficult.
As a biblical example of faltering from following God’s will, Abraham’s father, Terah, was called to take his family and go to the land of Canaan. However, he stopped short. He left Ur but then he settled in Haran (Gen. 11:31). Why did Terah come half way and then settle? What kept him back from fulfilling his purpose?
Joshua 24:2 remarks that Terah served other gods/idols. Terah was distracted by sin and a love for something outside of God. Perhaps the idols were comfort. Perhaps distracted by things around him, he just could not see by faith how good and purposeful God’s plan was for his life.
Terah initially said yes. He left the joy of his familiar surroundings. He left the love of his neighbors and friends. He left all that he knew and all that he had. He was willing to move forward into the journey with God.
But what he didn’t expect, was that it would be so tough. As Terah stepped out and made it part way, things probably got difficult for him. He began to lose the vision and purpose he set out to accomplish with God. He took what felt most comfortable at the moment over what mattered most.
Are we willing to say yes to God’s purposes or will we say it is too hard for us? When we start on the path towards God’s calling for our lives, will we let ourselves be turned aside? Will we settle for less than God’s best for us? Will we lack faith to trust that what He has for us is beyond what we can imagine?
Terah could have been the one who crossed over for his family. He could have made the hard choices and moved into the land that would bring his descendants fulfillment. His life could have had incredible purpose. But instead, he is just a few lines in the bible about falling short and serving other gods.
We need to get straight on what really matters. Jesus tells us in Matthew 23:23 that is good not to leave things like tithing undone. But, more importantly, we are not to leave undone the more important things like being faithful to our calling and bringing forth justice and mercy for others.
Hebrews 10:39 says that we are not of those who shrink back, but those who step out in faith and believe. We are not of those who turned away from God and said no, leading to their destruction. Rather, we are of those who, by faith, received Christ and stepped into His righteousness.
Our salvation was about saying yes. I remember for myself standing in front of the TV watching Charles Stanley as he called those who were viewing and wanted to know Christ to stand up, raise their hand and say a prayer with him.
In the same way, God does not call us to fulfill our purpose in our own strength. It is not too hard for us. It is not beyond what we can do. It is a matter of standing up, raising our hand and saying yes to God. Just like it was Him who brought us into His salvation and kingdom, it will be Him who brings us into our purposes.
We need to change our language from “I can’t do it” and “it is too hard for me” to “God can” and “I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me.” “He is more than enough” and “He will fulfill His good purposes in my life.”
Looking back can also cause us to falter. When God led the Israelites out of Egypt, from bondage into freedom, they kept looking back. They wanted to go back to what they knew and felt comfortable with. They began to idolize a picture of their past that was not even true. They looked around at the new adventures and were terrified.
They did not see with eyes of faith the land of bounty that they were being given so they wanted to turn around. They were being called to establish the way in the land of freedom for all their descendants who followed after them. But instead of standing in gratitude for this privilege, they complained about losing their comfort and security. I wonder how many times that Terah said to himself that he should just go back to Ur.
Sometimes it is old tapes that are playing in our mind that stop us in our path. It is wounds of the past and words that told us that we were never enough. When we listen to these voices, they can stop us in our tracks and cause us to sit down. We move into feeling defeated and deflated. We tell ourselves, “who am I to think that I can…”
I once had a friend who had incredible passion around mentoring young men and wonderful gifts in this area that he was waiting on God. He couldn’t step out into serving others as a mentor because he believed God needed to fix him first. The problem for him was year after year, God was still working on him. He was just never finished so he didn’t feel he could help anyone else.
We need to stop listening to the tapes that say that we are not enough or will never be enough. It is not about us, but about God. We are enough in His eyes just as we are and despite any past mistakes and failures. Instead of beating ourselves up with these old voices, we need to listen to God’s voice of encouragement and love that is ever leading us forward into the fullness of life.
Like the Psalmist in Ps. 138:8, we can pray and proclaim, “The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands. The LORD will fulfill His purpose in me. O LORD, Your loving devotion endures forever—do not abandon the works of Your hands.”
Lord, we trust You. Thank you that you have a purpose and plan for each one of us. It is not too much for us and You are more than able to bring what you started to completion. Give us a fresh vision and enthusiasm for what you have for us. Help us to be willing to keep saying yes. Keep us from getting distracted. Help us to see those things that would draw us aside from the fullness of your purpose for us.
