Distractions, distractions

Scripture Reading: I Kings 10, 11, and II Chronicles 9
Focal Passage: I Kings 11:4-6

Have you ever gotten distracted from your task at hand? Perhaps you started a project at work, and then got interrupted by phone calls or more pressing, immediate needs and the project got pushed aside. Before you knew it, days went by before you got back to the project. Maybe you are like me and your wife gives you a list at the grocery store and the meat aisle distracts you for a few minutes (I always have to see if they have any good deals on steaks or shrimp). In my basketball coaching days, my teams would sometimes run a full-court pressure defense to try to distract players from their normal routine of bringing the ball up the court. We hoped they would feel the pressure and make mistakes by throwing the ball away to our team. Distractions are a part of life and coping with those distractions is often the difference between a self-disciplined person and one that simply "goes with the flow".

King Solomon went from a blessed hero in I Kings 10 to a man that was being overrun by his enemies and dies in I Kings 11. What a difference a chapter makes! This huge difference in these two chapters is summed up in the focal passage. Solomon was distracted by his wives (no jokes here about women). His wives seduced (convinced) him to follow after their gods. His heart was not completely faithful to the Lord. One of the gods, Ashtoreth, was a god we read about yesterday in Sunday School (I Samuel 7:3,4). This god was a female deity worshiped as a god of fertility and war. She was also one of the main gods in Canaanite religion. Solomon went from a man that had great wisdom given to him by God, to a man that served other gods and even built places of worship to these other gods. He was distracted and his loyatly and faithfulness to God waivered.

Before we judge Solomon too harshly, let's ask ourselves a question: have I been distracted away from God? Do you need to confess a time in which you have been distracted and your attention and faithfulness to your relationship with God has waivered? It could be school, work, family, church, technology, addictions, cares of this life, vacation, hurt....the list goes on and on. The possibilities are as endless as the choices in a grocery store! Pray this for me and I will do the same for you if you would like for me to: God, help me not to be distracted from You, or Your purposes for my life. Help me to live what Paul wrote in Philippians 3:8. Help me to see everything else besides Christ as simple distractions!