But I still got your attention. When I was doing seminar presentations, I would watch the audience watch me. If I was losing them, I would fabricate a transition: “Now we are going to talk about sex.” Bam! It went dead quiet and every eye was on me. It worked like magic with any audience. Then I told them I made it up, and we continued with the topic I was speaking about. They seemed disappointed.

Our attention likes to go where it wants to go. God has ways of getting in front of us and directing us where he wants us to go. He’s not afraid to use matters of life and death to do it.

Hezekiah was king of Judah. The world order was changing. His little kingdom was in the crosshairs. Alliances were shifting. Foreign leaders used disinformation to undermine people’s faith in God and confidence in Hezekiah’s leadership. What should he do?

God got his attention. Isaiah told him, “Put your house in order, because you are going to die” (2 Kings 20:1). It was a really bad time to come down with something. His back was already up against the wall. But, “Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord” (verse 2). God answered his prayer: “I will deliver you and . . . defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David” (verse 6). It all worked out because God never gets distracted.