The world is in a rush. People dash frantically in and out of stores, drive feverishly down the roads, and pass quickly through drive-thru lines. Internet speeds, wait times, and package deliveries are constantly competing for the quickest rates and highest customers.
At least for me, it takes a concerted effort to resist the urge to hurry along with society and instead pause to smell the roses. A strange self-reproach and disquiet accompany my lack of activity, but nevertheless, I’m convinced this is not the way God intended my soul to live.
I recently heard a pastor declare,
“You can’t develop an intimate relationship with God if you’re in a hurry.”
That cut straight to my heart, because I often find myself in haste, and most times I’m rushing around for no good reason. I treat life like a to-go order and miss the experience of sitting down in the restaurant for a leisurely meal.
When I look at Jesus’ time on earth, I never see Him breezing past people or bumping into those who got in His way. He took time for them and often retreated to be in private with His Father.
Perhaps a bit like David wrote centuries earlier in the Psalms.
“O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.”
– 131:1-2
There is something about stillness and quiet that is very biblical.
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.”
– 23:1-2
“Be still, and know that I am God.”
– 46:10
“ … lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”
– 1 Timothy 2:2
While I know this to be true and fight for my quiet time with Jesus, uninterrupted tranquility is difficult to attain. I know God understands my chaos, meets me in my schedule, and works through the goings-on of my life … but I also know He “delight[s] in truth in the inward being, and teach[es] me wisdom in the secret heart” (Psalm 51:6).
If I cram every waking moment of my life with conversations and tasks and activities, how can I expect to hear God’s voice and observe His hand and feel His presence? How often I do, and yet He is persistent even then to reach me and draw me again into His hiding place (Psalm 32:7).
God’s Provision:
“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.”
– James 4:8
Word of the Week: Silence. Anti-everything-I-know-and-experience-in-this-world.
“For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,for my hope is from Him.”
– Psalm 62:5
Abby
