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God Speaks in the Mundane 47: Overcoming Distractions for Spiritual Focus and Faith

I picked up my phone the other day with a clear goal: to search for something online. Five minutes later, I was doing something completely different. Then I thought, “๐‘Šโ„Ž๐‘ฆ ๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘‘ ๐ผ ๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘› ๐‘”๐‘œ ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘™๐‘–๐‘›๐‘’ ๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘–๐‘Ÿ๐‘ ๐‘ก ๐‘๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘’?” ๐ผ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘™๐‘‘๐‘›’๐‘ก ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘š๐‘’๐‘š๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ.

That moment wasn’t just forgetting. It was a reminder that:

๐ƒ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐€๐ญ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž
They don’t always show up with lights that flash red. They sometimes have a curious look on their faces. A “quick scroll,” an “urgent” notification, and a “harmless” detour.

I have used my iPad to have quiet time or read the Bible or watch a sermon on YouTube. Then, ping! A pop up! An email shows up. One swipe, one click… And now I’m going down the rabbit hole.

๐ƒ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ƒ๐ข๐ฌ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž
They take our attention away. We start with God, but soon we’re lost in digital weeds, pulled into posts, people, and platforms that have nothing to do with our purpose.

๐ƒ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ƒ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž
Just ask the driver who looked away from the road for a second and never got home.
Just ask Peter, who got out of the boat in faith but started to sink when he looked at the storm instead of the Saviour.

The Bible shows a pattern:
– ๐‹๐จ๐ญ’๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ž turned around and got stuck.
– ๐Œ๐š๐ซ๐ญ๐ก๐š was too busy serving to pay attention to what was important.
– ๐’๐š๐ฆ๐ฌ๐จ๐ง had power, but he lost his way when he followed pleasure.
– ๐ƒ๐ž๐ฆ๐š๐ฌ loved this world and gave up on his fate.

Concentration is not only mental; it is also spiritual.

โ€œ๐น๐‘–๐‘ฅ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ ๐‘’๐‘ฆ๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘› ๐ฝ๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ข๐‘ โ€ฆโ€ โ€“ ๐ป๐‘’๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ค๐‘  12:2
โ€œ๐‘†๐‘’๐‘ก ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ ๐‘Ž๐‘“๐‘“๐‘’๐‘๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ฃ๐‘’โ€ฆโ€ โ€“ ๐ถ๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘ ๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘  3:2
โ€œ๐ต๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘™๐‘™ ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘˜๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ค ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐ผ ๐‘Ž๐‘š ๐บ๐‘œ๐‘‘.โ€ โ€“ ๐‘ƒ๐‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘š 46:10

๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐’†๐’๐’†๐’Ž๐’š ๐’…๐’๐’†๐’”๐’’๐’• ๐’‚๐’๐’˜๐’‚๐’š๐’” ๐’–๐’”๐’† ๐’‚๐’‡๐’‡๐’๐’Š๐’„๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’”๐’† ๐’…๐’‚๐’š๐’”. ๐‘ฏ๐’† ๐’Ž๐’Š๐’ˆ๐’‰๐’• ๐’‹๐’–๐’”๐’• ๐’๐’†๐’†๐’… ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’•๐’ ๐’Œ๐’†๐’†๐’‘ ๐’”๐’„๐’“๐’๐’๐’๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ.

And so, the whisper today is this:

– You can’t afford to split your attention.
– You need to be clear about your calling.
– God’s voice may be soft, but it never competes with noise.

He still speaks in the mundane.
But if we donโ€™t silence the distractions, we may miss the divine.

ยฉ 2025 Seun Oyekola
https://seunoyekola.com/
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