Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - ATTENTION-1

 ATTENTION (PART 1)

It’s now been over one year since the world was thrown into battle with the virus known as Covid-19.  How this all came about initially is still uncertain, but one thing that is without question is the fact that everyone’s life, to some degree, has changed.  How much of that change is permanent, however, remains yet to be seen.

In addition to the pandemic, the earth has been challenged with wildfires, floods, tornados, hurricanes, extreme heat, etc.  The list seems to go on and on, and the question is why?  Why is all this happening? Some refer to an accident releasing the virus into the world and others think it was deliberately set free. People blame climate change for all the weather related events that have been occurring, and without doubt it has played a large part in the overall problem, but both plagues and weather problems have occurred before.

In the past, God has used both infestations and environmental changes to modify both the attitude and attention of people and there are numerous examples of this in the Bible. The plagues that were inflicted upon Egypt when Pharaoh refused to release the Hebrew nation and the plague that befell the Hebrew people after Korah led a rebellion against Moses (Numbers 16) are two examples.  Another is the time when God sent Quail to try and satisfy the bickering among the people. While they were still eating and “…while the meat was still between their teeth, the wrath of the Lord was aroused against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague” (Numbers 11:33).

God has also used abrupt changes in the environment to affect people as well. He used a burning bush to adjust the thinking of Moses, and a storm at sea to increase the faith of the disciples (Matthew 14:22-33).  He used an earthquake to convert a jailor (Acts 16), visions to encourage Isaiah (Isaiah 6:1), and tragedy/disaster to change Job from being self-righteous to humble before God.

The point is that sometimes, in the past, God used life-altering events, both globally and individually, to draw attention back to where it should be - on Him.  In this chaos addicted society we now live in, is it not possible that He just might be doing the same again?  He has already told us in Proverbs to “…give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings” (Proverbs 4:20) and also that “[w]e must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away” (Hebrews 2:1 NIV).

In our busy lives we all seem to have drifted a considerable way from where we should  be. Is it not just conceivable that perhaps, once more, God is trying to get our attention away from the chaos and distractions and back to where we give more attention to His words?

At least, it’s something to think about.