Busyness
does not equate to doing God’s business. Eugene Peterson stated that: ‘Busyness
is the enemy of spirituality. It is essentially laziness. It is doing the easy
thing instead of the hard thing. It is filling our time with our own actions
instead of paying attention to God’s actions. It is taking charge.’[1]
We
often rush our Bible readings, but it’s not going anywhere. It should be
savoured like a fine wine or a mature cheese (or whatever is your preferred food
analogy) and not rushed like a TV dinner. Often the quickest things that our
Bibles pick up is dust as we hurry on to our days without even picking it up.
‘Better
one hand with tranquillity than two handfuls of toil and chasing after the
wind.’ (Ecclesiastes 4: 6) The word tranquillity means literally
‘deep-seated heart rest.’
A
Puritan writer, Thomas Brooks, gives us a caution: ‘Remember, it’s not hasty
reading, but serious meditating upon holy and heavenly truths, that make them
prove sweet and profitable to the soul. It’s not the bee’s touching of the
flower which gathers honey – but her abiding for a time upon the flower, which
draws out the sweet. It is not he who reads most – but he who meditates most,
who will prove the choicest, sweetest, wisest, and strongest Christian.’[2]
There
is the exhortation that we are not to beat ourselves up if we do not read through
the Bible in one year. It could be spread over a number of years (such as
adapting a plan so it covers four years) or get to know a book really well.
What is important is that you are reading the Bible and letting it soak into
your whole being by the power of the Holy Spirit.
We
can be so activity-orientated that we miss out on the reflection on God’s Word.
There
is also the call to be still in our church community. We find that reading the
Bible and prayer were both activities that were communal both in the Old and
New Testaments.
The
Latin word for the English ‘be still’ is vacate. Simon Tugwell expounded
it to mean that ‘God invites us to take a holiday [vacation], to stop
being God for a while and let him be God.’
In
the midst of our crowded lifestyles, we think that communing with God in prayer
as another item to add onto our to-do list, which we may or may not get around
to. Simon Tugwell rebukes us gently: ‘God is inviting us to take a break, to
play truant. We can stop doing all those important things we have to do in our
capacity as God, and leave it to him to be God.’[3]
Martin
Luther stated: ‘Tomorrow I plan to work, from early until late. In fact, I have
so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.’ [4]
A
W Tozer has commented: ‘What then are we to do with our problems? We must learn
to live with them until such time as God delivers us from them…we must pray for
grace to endure them without murmuring. Problems patiently endured will work
for our spiritual perfecting.’[5]
As
the song goes:
Christ
be in my waking, as the sun is rising
In
my day of working, with me every hour
Christ
be in my resting, as the day is ending
Calming
and refreshing, watching through the night
Jesus,
this is my devotion: all my life to know you
Every
day to walk with you.
Saviour,
You’re my deepest longing. You’re the One I live for.
Teach
me, Lord, to walk with You.[6]
Wing
Mandao, a Chinese pastor, has pointed out: ‘We have so much to do that we never
really commune with God as he intended in the Garden of Eden.’[7]
It
is when we take time out with God that we can really let Him work in our lives.
David implored God: ‘Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my
anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the
way everlasting.’ (Psalm 139: 23 – 24)
Paul
directed the Corinthians to the same searching: ‘Examine yourselves to see
whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realise that Jesus
Christ is in you – unless, of course, you fail the test? And I trust that you
will discover that we have not failed the test.’ (2 Corinthians 13: 5 – 6)
In
the famous analogy of the Shepherd and His sheep, we are told that the sheep
lie down (Psalm 23: 2), and activity that only happens when they are settled
and satisfied. We are often too busy chasing after the latest ‘blade of grass’
and then onto the next one. Our franticness belies the fact that God supplies
all of our needs so that we want for nothing.
When
we take time out, we can truly commune with God. Jesus promised ‘steams of
living water’ to come from us when we spend time with Him (John 7: 37 – 38). It
is in being still that we hear the Lord speaking: ‘Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his, we are his people, the sheep of his
pasture.’ (Psalm 100: 3)
We
can get so caught up in events that we start to take people and events and make
them more than what they really are. Asaph had to look at his own attitude as,
if he lived in modern times, he saw people getting promotions and hefty wage
increases whilst he was working really hard and not getting anywhere. His
solution was found when he ‘entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood
their final destiny.’ (Psalm 73: 17) His attitude was radicalised when he
addressed God: ‘Yet I am always with you, you hold me by my right hand. You
guide me with your counsel, and afterwards you will take me into glory. Whom
have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh
and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for
ever.’ (Psalm 73: 23 – 26)
Asaph
is echoing David’s words: ‘I have set the Lord continually before me; because
he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.’ (Psalm 16: 8)
The
psalmist’s final shout of acclamation is: ‘But as for me, it is good to be near
God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.’
(Psalm 73: 28)
James
tells us to: ‘Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials [both
internal and external] of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your
faith develops perseverance.’ (James 1: 2 – 3) We are often so busy that we are
hurling around and not giving a minute’s thought to what is happening to us. We
want rapid responses and quick cessations, because we do not want to spend the
time to sit down and think about our situations.
The
result can be found in the previous book in the New Testament that tells us:
‘solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to
distinguish good from evil.’ (Hebrews 5: 14)
Paul
gives us the exhortation: ‘Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and
thankful.’ (Colossians 4: 3) The word watchful means to be alert and diligent.
There is the need to step back and to observe, to move out of the fast current
of normal life, in order that we can see what God is doing in His world.
As
David asked God: ‘Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in
your truth and teach me, for you are God my Saviour and my hope is in you all
day long.’ (Psalm 25: 4 – 5)
The
psalmist also proclaimed: ‘I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word
I put my hope.’ (Psalm 130: 5)
It
is time that we learned to bathe in God’s love, instead of having a quick dip
in the shower.
Teresa
of Avila gave these words of advice:
Let
nothing disturb you.
Let
nothing frighten you.
All
things pass away:
God
never changes.
Patience
obtains all things.
Those
who have God
Find
they lack nothing:
God
alone suffices.
It
is only as we are still before the Lord that we can know the full impact of His
words: ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you
rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in
heart, and you will find rest in your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden
is light.’ (Matthew 11: 28 – 30)
Francis
De Sales wrote: ‘Everyone needs half an hour of prayer each day, except when we
are busy – then we need an hour.’[8]
C
S Lewis advised: ‘It comes the very moment you wake up. All your wishes and
hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning
consists simply in shoving them all back, in listening to that other voice,
taking that other point of view, letting that other, larger, stronger, quieter
life come flowing in.’[9]
In
the midst of ruling Israel, David could write: ‘I have stilled and quietened my
soul: like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul
within me.’ (Psalm 131: 2) He was then able to proclaim: ‘O Israel, put your
hope in the Lord, both now and for evermore.’ (131: 3)
Heidi
Jo Fulk has written: ‘This kind of quiet shows me I need to stop striving to
act or figure things out on my own and instead quiet myself. To quiet the
me-thinking and me-acting and come to an all-knowing, all-powerful God and
allow Him to strengthen my heart and mind to think and act like Him.’[10]
When
we stop, we allow the Holy Spirit to talk to us without having to contend with
the other noises that come in our lives like tidal waves. It is in these rare
moments that we can hear Him talk without us chattering, which mainly consists
of things that we want.
Heidi
Jo Fulk has reminded us: ‘Quiet’s perspective is not my perspective, it’s
God’s. When we are quiet and have a gentle spirit, we’re squelching our
tendency toward ‘me’ and ‘I’ and instead allowing the Holy Spirit to control
our minds, hearts and actions.’[11]
We
have confidence in approaching the mighty throne as John tells us: ‘This is the
confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his
will, he hears us.’ (1 John 5: 14)
There
is the warning in that, if we disregard what God is saying, it is to our
detriment, as God tells us: ‘In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is
your trust, but you would have none of it.’ (Isaiah 30: 15)
The
result will be ‘That harassing, hovering feeling of ‘have to’ largely comes
from the vacuum in your soul, where you ought to be at home with your Father in
his kingdom.’[12]
‘I
will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long
ago. I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds.’
(Psalm 77: 11 – 12)
It
is in that intimacy that we can approach God: ‘May the words of my mouth and
the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and
Redeemer.’ (Psalm 19: 14)
The
term selah appears seventy-one times in 39 of the psalms, which has the
function of being a pause, both as a
pause in the text and as a prompt for the reader to consider. Taking
time out gives us the opportunity to learn scripture and to meditate upon it.
The
result of spending time with God is that ‘A man of knowledge uses words with
restraint, and a man of understanding is even-tempered.’ (Proverbs 17: 27)
Peter
made a similar point: ‘Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit,
hypocrisy, envy and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure
spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you
have tasted that the Lord is good.’ (1 Peter 2: 1 – 3)
The
point is illustrated by Jesus’ visit to the house of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:
38 – 42). Martha was rushing around, whilst Mary was content to listen to and
be with Jesus. It started off so well as Martha opened her home to Jesus with,
literally, ‘welcome and delight’ with a verve that His arrival was something
that she both enjoyed and anticipated. However, it all went downhill from that
point onwards. The Lord wanted Martha to stop what she was doing, however
admirable, so that she too could hear and be with Him. In verse 40, it is
stated that she was ‘distracted,’ which can be transliterated as being
shredded, for she had placed upon herself the mental pressure that everything
had to be done to its best. It got worse as, in verse 41, she was ‘upset,’
literally ‘lost perspective,’ for she had lost sight for the reason why Jesus
had come. It was not as though Jesus was castigating Martha for doing the work,
for we all have things that need to be accomplished, it was because she had her
priorities out of kilt at that moment. It was time to put down the broom and
the cooking utensils, and to sit down at the feet of Jesus.
John
Ortberg described being in the presence of Jesus as ‘That one thing is the
decision to live continuously in Jesus’ presence as to always be covered with
the dust of the Rabbi.’[13]
We
are reminded in Isaiah 50: 4 that: ‘The Sovereign Lord has given me an
instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He awakens by
morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.’
This
passage tells us to listen to God before we speak either to Him or to people,
for we can often hear but not listen. We need to weigh up our words before
opening up our mouths. We are implored so that ‘Everyone should be quick to
listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.’ (James 1: 19) Paul expounds
this sentiment by saying: ‘So not let any unwholesome talk come out of your
mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according tio their
needs, that it may benefit those who listen.’ (Ephesians 4: 29)
Daniel
was a good example of one who took time out of his schedule to listen to God:
‘So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in
fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.’ (9: 3)
Isaiah
reminds us: ‘You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast,
because he trusts in you.’ (26: 3)
It
links in what Paul wrote: ‘Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this
world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able
to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.’
(Romans 12: 2)
If
we are rushing around, we will not leave any room in our lives, let alone our
diaries, to ascertain what God want us to do and certainly not to get to know
Him better. We can only allow our lives to be transformed if we spend time with
our Lord.
The
human heart is, as John Calvin reminds us, ‘a thick forest of thorns.’[14] Jesus labels two of the
thorn issues, one being the ‘cares of the world’ (Mark 4: 19). It is when we
spend time away with the Lord when we get things into perspective and untangle
ourselves from the thorny branches to be liberated into the freedom that only
Jesus can give.
We
will be able to proclaim with the psalmist: ‘It is good to praise the Lord and
make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and
your faithfulness at night…For you make me glad by your deeds, O Lord, I sing
for joy at the work of your hands. How great are your works, O Lord, how
profound your thoughts.’ (Psalm 92: 1 -2, 3 – 4)
We
need to get it into our heads that we are not the centre of the universe. It is
the work of God to sustain all things by His powerful word (Hebrews 1: 3).
François
Fenélon has helpfully written: Be silent and listen to God. Let your heart be
in such a state of preparation that his Spirit may impress upon you such
virtues as will please him. Let all within you listen to him. This silence of
out outward and earthly affection and of human thoughts within us is essential
if we are to hear his voice.’[15]
There
is the Serenity Prayer composed by Rheinhold Niebuhr:
God,
grant me grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed.
Courage
to change the things which should be changed,
And
the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.
Living
one day at a time,
Enjoying
one moment at a time,
Accepting
hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking,
as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is not as I would have it.
Trusting
that You will make all things right if I surrender to Your will,
So
that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And
supremely happy with You forever in the next.
Amen
There
is the recollection that, on the Mount of Transfiguration, God that Father
announced: ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen
to him!’ (Matthew !7: 5, my italics)
There
were breaks in the narrative of Paul, such as his visit to Arabia after he
became a Christian followed by fourteen years
before he was commissioned as a missionary. Paul was living and
evangelising for two years in Caesarea Philippi before he moved on. He
experienced two years under house arrest, due to the backlog of trials, using
that time to write the ‘prison letters’ (Ephesians, Philippians, Philemon,
Colossians and the two epistles to Timothy).
There
is the need to be followers of Jesus in all we do – after all, we are commanded
to be imitators of God (Ephesians 5: 1). It is easy to overlook the fact that
Jesus accomplished all that He did in three years of ministry, taking time out
to evaluate the priorities of His mission even if it meant omitting situations.
Helmut
Thielicke commented on the ministry of Jesus in his sermon on ‘The Parable of
the Seed Growing Silently’: ‘What tremendous pressures there must have been
within him to drive him to hectic, nervous, explosive activity! He sees…as no
one else sees, with an infinite and awful nearness, the agony of the dying man,
the prisoner’s torment, the anguish of the wounded conscience, injustice,
terror, dread, and beastliness. He sees and hears and feels all this with the
heart of a Saviour…Must this not fill every waking hour and rob him of sleep at
night? Must he not begin immediately to set the fire burning, to win people, to
work out strategic plans to evangelise the world, to work, work, furiously
work, unceasingly, unrestingly, before the night comes when no man can work?
That’s what we would imagine the earthly life of the Son of God would be like,
if we were to think of him in human terms.
‘But
how utterly different was the actual life of Jesus! Though the burden of the
whole world lay heavy on his shoulders, though Corinth and Ephesus and Athens,
whole continents, with their desperate need, were dreadfully near to his heart,
though suffering and sinning were going on in chamber, street corner, castle
and slums, seen only by the Son of God – though this unmeasurable misery and
wretchedness cried aloud for a physician, he had time to stop and talk to the
individual…
‘By
being obedient in his little corner of the highly provincial precincts of
Nazareth and Bethlehem he allows himself to be fitted into a great mosaic whose
master is God. And that’s why he has time for persons; for all time is in the
hands of his Father. And that too is why peace and not unrest goes out from
him. For God’s faithfulness already spans the world like a rainbow: he does not
need to build it; he needs only to walk beneath it.’[16]
The
secret was that He took time out to be with His Father:
·
‘'Yet
the news about Him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear
Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely
places and prayed.’ (Luke 5: 15 – 16)
·
‘Very
early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and
went to a solitary place, where He prayed.’ (Mark 1: 35)
·
‘After
leaving them, He went up on a mountainside to pray.’ (Mark 6: 46)
It
was not as though Jesus needed a moment of self-indulgence, what He did need was
the guarding of His relationship with His Father. It was during these times
that they communed and these times
enabled the Son to continue His ministry, including those choices and stresses
that inevitably came His way.
It
did not mean that Jesus was idle as He confronted His accusers: ‘My Father is
always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.’ (John 5: 17)
It
was not only His practice but He encouraged His disciples to do the same for,
for as the crowds grew and wanted more, Jesus told the disciples to come with
Him by themselves to a quiet place and get some rest (Mark 6: 30 -31).
We
need to be patient, like the disciples who waited for Jesus who were buffeted
since sunset the previous evening and He came after 3 o’clock at night. A E J
Rawlinson has commented: ‘Faint hearts may have even begun whether the Lord
Himself had not abandoned them to their fate, or to doubt the reality of
Christ. They are to learn from this story that they are not forsaken, that the
Lord watches over them unseen…[that] the Living One, Master of wind and waves,
will surely come quickly for their salvation, even though it be in the “fourth
watch of the night”.’[17] It is despite the fact
that Jesus made the point that he would meet them on the other side (Matthew
14: 22)
Lewis
Smedes has written:
Waiting
is our destiny as creatures who cannot by themselves bring about what they hope
for.
We
wait in darkness for a flame we cannot light,
We
wait in fear for a happy ending we cannot write.
We
wait for a not yet that feels like a not ever.
Waiting
is the hardest work of hope.[18]
In
the Old Testament alone, there are the injunctions to wait upon the Lord. In
the Old Testament, the word wait often had the connotation of looking
eagerly, hoping and expecting.
There
were huge gaps in the lives of Abraham, Joseph and Moses. The only significant
event in the forty years of Moses’ exile in the Midian desert, apart from
meeting God in the burning bush at the end, was his marriage to Zipporah.
Jesus
would have done more in His three years of ministry than what was recorded, as
John tells us: ‘Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were
written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the
books that would be written.’ (John 21: 25) However, we are told that Jesus had
time for breakfast with His disciples and had numerous meals. In order to
accommodate what was necessary, He had to say ‘no’ to other requests.
Elizabeth
Grace Saunders commented: ‘Saying no makes the difference between working
crazing hours and hitting deadlines without stress.’ She suggested that the
time commitments that do not contribute to your day should be identified and then
decline gracefully the requests that take time from the work that you should be
focussed on. She continued: ‘Staying no to time commitments that don’t align
with your priorities or needs can lead to a small amount of initial discomfort
but save you hours of time in the end.’[19]
There
is the encouragement that ‘Even the youths grow tired and weary, and young men
stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they
will walk and not faint.’ (Isaiah 40: 30 – 31)
A
W Tozer reminds us: ‘God never hurries. There are no deadlines against which he
must work. Only to know this is to quiet our spirits and relax our nerves.’ [20]
There
is the theme running through the Bible of God not rushing His purposes as we
would. There are so many reasons why He could have sent His Son before the time
that He did, but He chose the perfect time (Galatians 4: 4).
Sometimes,
it feels as though waiting patiently is counterintuitive. King Hezekiah said
something to that effect: ‘I waited patiently till dawn, but like a lion He
broke all my bones; day and night you made an end of me.’ (Isaiah 38: 17)
However, the passage does continue that God did visit the king and restored him
to health, with the effect that he ‘will walk humbly all my years because of
this anguish of my soul.’ (38: 9)
God
does not bend a deaf ear: ‘’Record my lament; list my tears on your scroll –
are they not in your record?’ (Psalm 56: 8)
We
sing songs like ‘To be in your presence, not rushing away,’[21] ‘Be still, for the
presence of the Lord,’[22] and ‘Still, my soul, be
still’[23]; yet our actions belie
what comes out of our mouths. As A W Tozer said: ‘Christians don’t tell lies,
they just go to church and sing them.’[24]
There
is the timeless hymn:
Take
time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord;
Abide
with Him always, and feed on His Word.
Make
friends of God’s children, help those who are weak,
Forgetting
in nothing His blessing to seek.
Take
time to be holy, the world rushes on;
Spend
much time in secret, with Jesus alone.
By
looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be;
Thy
friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see.
Take
time to be holy, let Him be thy Guide;
And
run not before Him, whatever betide.
In
joy or in sorrow, still follow the Lord,
And,
looking to Jesus, still trust in His Word.
Take
time to be holy, be calm in thy soul,
Each
thought and each motive beneath His control.
Thus
led by His Spirit to fountains of love,
Thou
soon shalt be fitted for service above.[25]
When
we have lost the transcendence of our amazing God because we are ‘too busy,’
our boat will drift because there is nothing to anchor it. In a 1992 essay for
the Forbes magazine, Peggy Noonan explained it thus:
‘I
think we have lost the old knowledge that happiness is overrated – that, in a
way, life is overrated. We have lost, somehow, a sense of mystery – about us,
our purpose, our meaning, our role. Our ancestors believed in two worlds, and
understood this to be the solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short one. We are
the first generations of man that actually expected to find happiness here on earth,
and our search for it has caused such unhappiness. The reason: If you do not
believe in another world, if you believe this is your only chance at happiness
– if that is what you believe, then you are not disappointed when the world
does not give you a good measure of its riches, you are despairing.’[26]
The
prophet Habakkuk tells us: ‘the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth
be silent before him.’ (2: 20) It corresponds with the verse: ‘Worship the Lord
in the splendour of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth.’ (Psalm
96: 10) If we do not take time to be still, we cannot fathom the awesomeness of
our God.
Our
hearts are often displayed in the words of 1 John 2: 15 – 17: ‘Do not love the
world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the
Father is not in him. For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man,
the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does – comes not from
the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man
who does the will of God lives for ever.’
The
extent of our busyness often is a demonstration of where our hearts are. We
often work too hard because there are ‘things’ that we want, instead of being
satisfied with the good things that God has placed in our lives. Perhaps it
might be the desire for the latest mobile phone; or the wanting to send our
children to as many activities as possible because we do not to commit to
family time; or to go on the perfect holiday location (which we will punctuate
with relying to text messages and/or e-mails, whilst sending our children off
to the holiday club).
It
is questioning our motives, passions and desires. We need to determine whether
we hold onto our family, possessions or even ourselves before God. It is
noticeable that many Christians are unwilling to enter thoughts about death and
eternity, because they are having such a good time down here and do not want to
let go of the present. It is true that Christians can look indiscernible from
the world.
We
can be looking for love in all the wrong places because we have not sat down
and thought about it. It is when we discern our own thoughts before God and
with the help of the Holy Spirit that the situation may become uncomfortable,
and yet it is the only way forward in this life. It is like God the divine
surgeon taking His scalpel in an operation (where we have no option but to be
still) in order that we can be healed.
We
are told: ‘Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.’
(Proverbs 16: 3) However, we often make the mistake of being still long enough
to bring our proposals to seek the wisdom of the Lord, but then we are
surprised subsequently when things go pear-shaped. It is as though we do not
look down the same page of our Bibles and see the following words: ‘In his
heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.’ (Proverbs 16:
9)
In
the midst of the Preacher’s words stating that there is a time for different
seasons of our lives, it states that there is ‘a time to be silent and a time
to speak.’ (Ecclesiastes 3: 7)
In
I Kings chapter 19, Elijah was on the run after the triumph by God on Mount
Carmel against the false gods. However, the prophet was despondent as he
thought that God had abandoned him as he sat in a cave on Mount Sinai. God told
Elijah to stand before Him as God would pass by. There was a mighty wind,
earthquake and fire, but God was not in any of those elements. After these came
a gentle whisper through which God spoke to his servant. God did not shout in
the showy or the spectacular although He can, but in the stillness that God
speaks to us today. The wonder of it all is that we all have opportunities to
hear what He is saying to us in our situations, regardless of what they are.
It
is in the times of quiet that we learn to obey. The word obedience does
not only mean to do what we are told, but it also means to listen (the Latin ob
means ‘in the direction of’ and audire means ‘to hear.’)
God
gave us weekly opportunities so that we can spend time with Him: ‘Observe the
Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you…Remember
that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of
there with a mighty hand and an outstretched hand . Therefore the Lord your God
has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.’ (Deuteronomy 5: 12, 15)
We
can come before God on a daily basis: ‘when you pray, go into your room, close
the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees
what is done in secret, will reward you.’ (Matthew 6: 6)
Oswald
Chambers reminds us: ‘Our only task is to maintain a vital connection with
Jesus Christ, seeing that nothing interferes with it.’[27]
It
takes time and effort to develop our relationship with Jesus. ‘I will extol the
Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips…Taste and see that the
Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him’ (Psalm 34: 1, 8)
To
walk with God takes time and cannot be hurried, spending time with Him. Eugene
Peterson summed it up by stating that: ‘A disciple is a learner, but not in the
academic setting of a schoolroom, rather at the work site of a craftsman.’[28] An apprentice should take
time to study the plans and the methods of the Teacher, not rushing ahead but keeping
in step (Galatians 5: 25).
We
are reminded that ‘There is only one relationship that matters, and that is
your personal relationship to a personal Redeemer and Lord. Let everything else
go, but maintain that at all costs, and God will fulfil His purpose through
your life…Always remain alert to the fact that where one man has gone back is
exactly where anyone may go back…Kept by the power of God – this is the only
safety.’[29]
Growth
is not an instant process, but the slow and deliberate building of ourselves by
the Holy Spirit so that we become increasingly like our Lord (Colossians 1:
10). Like a mustard tree (Matthew 13: 31), the development of our faith will be
in spurts on occasions; but, more often, it will be in those quiet times where
there is nothing discernible appearing to happen.
As
antidotes to these particular malaises in our society, when we think about our
own spiritual growth, Jesus illustrated it by telling parables of the sower
(Matthew 13: 1 – 9), the wheat and the weeds (Matthew 13: 24 – 30), and the
mustard seed (Matthew 13: 31 – 32). There were also the metaphors of the
fruit-bearing trees (Matthew 7: 16 – 18), the vine and the branches (John 15: 1
– 8), and the calling of people into the Kingdom of God as a harvest (Matthew
9: 37 – 38; John 4: 35 – 38).
We
should have our thought processes transformed by the Holy Spirit (Romans 12: 2)
so that we develop patience as part of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:
22). We need to realise that it takes time to cultivate this fruit. Paul also
illustrated it by the picture of trees, which also need time to develop (1
Corinthians 3: 6 – 9).
Billy
Graham observed: ‘Being a Christian is more than just an instantaneous
conversion – it is a daily process whereby you grow to be more and more like
Christ.’[30]
Paul
gives us the encouragement to be ‘strengthened with all power according to his
glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience.’ (Colossians
1: 11) It is this patience that is the outworking of the inner strength. There
are no shortcuts as this strength can only be built up by spending time with
Christ, to learn from Him who was meek (literally ‘strength under control).
In
addition, we should be looking out for others as we are instructed in the
Bible: ‘Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have
entertained angels without knowing it.’ (Hebrews 13: 2)
We
should following the example of our Lord for He also was pressured to do
everything in the short time He had on earth: ‘For we do not have a high priest
who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been
tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin.’ (Hebrews 4: 15)
We
could and should be convicted by Jesus’ words when He said: ‘For I was hungry
and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to
drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed
me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit
me.
‘Then
the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you,
or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and
invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or
in prison and go to visit you?’
‘The
King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least
of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ (Matthew 25: 35 – 40)
Todd
Dekruyter has commented on the necessity of thinking how we can implement the
implications of Jesus’ words: ‘In addition to giving to your local church,
there are many opportunities to make an impact on the community around you.
Global missions. Local schools. Crisis pregnancy centres. Children in poverty.
Struggling single moms. Refugees fleeing conflict. It’s easy to look at all the
needs and opportunities in the world and say, ‘I can’t do it all. I can’t take
on this many issues…’
‘God
gives each of us individual burdens for specific needs of the Church and the
world. Think about your purpose, about the needs and issues that move you to
tears. Visualise them. What if there were only three, maybe four, things you
could say with your life? Would you want those things to be said on accident,
or would you want to pick the ones to be said? Use those priorities to focus
your giving.’[31]
Jefferson
Bethke uses a better term: formations, meaning to be in the ‘process of
formation.’ He differentiates it from a goal as the latter is ‘the object of a
person’s ambition or effort; and aim or desired result.’
He
then expounds the difference:
One
is about the end. The other is about the present.
One
is about doing. The other is about being.
One
is about results. The other is about process.[32]
Kate
Merrick tells of how her family unplugged from digital connectivity when they
moved from the United States to Israel for experimental treatment for their
daughter’s cancer. She described the lesson learnt: ‘Presence is more than
making eye contact with your people or setting your phone down or practising
zen-like meditation. It’s in investing in your people, your situation, your
actual life, not the people or situation or life you wish you had. Presence
insists upon leaning into the daily grind, holding your ground when you’d
rather check out. Practising presence calls for a certain open-handedness with
God and where he is taking you. Practising presence is looking plain old life
square in the face and saying, Yes you’re beautiful and you’re mine. Let’s do
this.’[33]
It
is important to recognise that God is the supreme example of taking time as a
servant. He gave Himself out of eternity and came into time to save us. There
was no time that was wasted and He was the master of it, achieving all that He
had to in the time that He wanted.
When
we stop and consider who He is, our response will be: ‘Come, let us bow down in
worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are
the people of his pasture, the flock under his care.’ (Psalm 95: 6 – 7)
[1]
Eugene Peterson, Subversive Spirituality (Wm B Eerdmans Publishing Co.,
Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1997) p. 237
[2]
Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices, p. 14 https://www.preachtheword.com/bookstore/remedies.pdf
[3]
Simon Tugwell, Prayer: Living with God (Templegate Publishers,
Springfield, Illinois), p. 35
[6]
‘Christ be in my waking’ written by Stuart Townend from the album ‘The Journey’
(Integrity Music, 2010)
[7]
Quoted in Frank Powell, ‘6 reasons you seriously need to slow down,’ Relevant
magazine, 17 September 2015. https://relevantmagazine.com/life5/6-reasons-you-seriously-need-slow-down/
[9] C
S Lewis, Mere Christianity (Harper Collins, New York, 1980), p. 198
[10]
Heidi Jo Fulk, ‘The Pursuit of Quiet,’ Revive our Hearts, 9 March 2017, https://www.reviveourhearts.com/true-woman/blog/pursuit-quiet/
[11]
Heidi Jo Fulk, ‘The Pursuit of Quiet,’ Revive our Hearts, 9 March 2017, https://www.reviveourhearts.com/true-woman/blog/pursuit-quiet/
[12]
Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy (Fount, London, 1998) p. 394
[13]
John Ortberg, God is closer than you think: If God is always with us, why is
He so hard to find? (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2005) https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/God_Is_Closer_Than_You_Think.html?id=0jZb7kjsq1IC&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=rabbi&f=false
[14]
John Calvin, Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists, vol. 2
(Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 1949), p. 116
[15]
Quoted in Richard J Foster, Sanctuary of the soul: journey into meditative
prayer (IVP Books, Westmont, Illinois, 2011) p.28
[16] Helmut
Thielicke, The Waiting Father: Sermons from the Parables of Jesus, translated
by John W Doberstein (Harper & Row, New York, 1957) http://pmoser.sites.luc.edu/idolanon/ExcerptSecretGrowth.html
[17] A
E J Rawlinson, St. Mark (Westminster Commentaries, Methuen, 1925) p. 88
[18]
Lewis Smedes, Standing on the Promises (Thomas Nelson, Nashville,
Tennessee, 1998)pp. 41 - 42
[19]
Elizabeth Grace Saunders, ‘9 Ways to Say No to Busyness and Unrealistic
Deadlines,’ Harvard Business Review, 29 March 2019, https://hbr.org/2019/03/9-ways-to-say-no-to-busywork-and-unrealistic-deadlines
[21]
‘To be in your presence’ written by Noel Richards (Thankyou Music, 1991)
[22]
‘Be still for the presence of the Lord’ written by David J Evans
(Kingsway/Thankyou Music, 1986)
[23]
‘Still, my soul, be still’ written by Keith & Kirstyn Getty & Stuart
Townend (Thankyou Music 2008)
[25]
‘Take time to be holy,’ words by William D Longstaff
[26]
Quoted by Ross Kaminsky, ’Reading and Rereading the Wondrous Peggy Noonan,’ The
Spectator, 5 November 2015, https://spectator.org/64567_reading-and-rereading-wondrous-peggy-noonan/
[27]
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest (Discover House, Grand
Rapids, 1992), 25 March
[28] Eugene
Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant
Society (Inter Varsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 2000) p. 17
[29]
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest
[31]
Todd Dekruyter, ‘4 ways to give before you have extra money,’ Relevant
magazine, 10 April 2017, https://relevantmagazine.com/article/4-ways-to-give-before-you-have-extra-mone
[32]
It is expounded in Jefferson Bethke, To Hell with the Hustle: Reclaiming
Your Life in an Overworked, Overspent and Overconnected World (Nelson
Books, Nashville, Tennessee, 2019)
[33]
Kate Merrick, Here Now: Unearthing Peace and Presence in an Overconnected
World (Nelson Books, Nashville, Tennessee, 2019) pp. 102 - 103
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