“In him we
live and move and have our being.” Acts 17:28 NIV
By
Sharon Jaynes on Crosswalk.com 1/2/12
“Friend
to Friend
I pressed the send button on my
latest manuscript, What God Really Thinks about Women. For twelve months I had
spent night and day with Jesus and the women he encountered while he walked the
earth. I was going to miss them. Miss walking in their sandals. Miss breathing
their air. Miss crying their tears. Miss carrying their water jugs. And while I
wasn’t going to be in their lives and in their business every day, their
imagined faces were etched in my mind and they had become part of me for
eternity. But it was time to move on.
I grabbed a cup of coffee,
snuggled up in my favorite overstuffed den chair, and opened my Bible in my
lap. ‘OK, God,’ I began, ‘that project is finished and tied securely with a
bow. So what do you want me to do now?’
I wondered if I should get into
a Bible study group, take a class at the local seminary, or finally write those
magazine articles I had been putting off. Should I start a small group,
volunteer at a charity, or start a new book project? I asked the question and
waited.
God surprised me. Acts
17:28 came to my mind. I believed He put it there. In him we live and
move and have our being. Learn what that means, He seemed to say. Let’s just
spend time together. No agenda. No goal.
No deadlines. I want to rekindle the romance. Will you let me?
His answer startled me. I hadn’t even realized the fire had died
down. Wasn’t I working for Him? Wasn’t I doing God’s will? Wasn’t I busy about my Father’s business? And
then I began to see what He meant. He began turning the lens of my mind’s
camera and the fuzzy image grew clear. I wondered how I had missed it before.
In the middle of all my busyness for God, I had neglected my relationship with
God.
I was made for goals, or so I
thought. Sitting still wasn’t in my nature, and perhaps that was what God was
trying to tell me. My ‘nature’ or natural bent of work was standing in the way
of worship. My natural bent of activity for God was getting in the way of my
communion with God. My daily routine of sanctioned quiet times was getting in
the way of divine romance in which He wanted me to engage.
Like the men caught on the stormy
Sea of Galilee, I felt I had been reeling in the waves for years – never in
danger of truly sinking – just reeling from one rolling wave of work and
deadlines to the next. But on this
particular morning, I began to see the cast of characters in this Galilean
scene in a different light. I was definitely in the scene, but I wasn’t in the
boat at all. I was the storm.
I love how Eugene Peterson
describes Jesus’ words to the wind and the waves as his friend stirred him from
his sleep to calm the squall: “'Quiet!
Settle down!’ The wind ran out of breath; the sea became smooth as
glass.” (Mark 4:39 The Message).
What does God really want from me?
I’ve pondered that question since the day I first came to Christ. It was one of
the two questions Saul asked when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus:
‘Who are you? What shall I do?’ (Acts 22:8, 10).
I think I’ve made my relationship
with Jesus far too difficult. I have spent so much time striving to get closer
to the heart of God. And all the while God has been whispering to me, ‘Cease
striving and know that I am God’ (Psalm 46:10 NASB). ‘It’s not that hard.
Settle down. Be quiet.’
And
that is what Jesus was telling me that frosty January morning. But I realized I
didn’t really know how to be quiet and settle down. I had never mastered the
idea of ‘be still and know.’ I knew that
God was God. It was the ‘be still’ part
that stumped me every time. Now don’t
get me wrong. I can be still for a few minutes, maybe even an hour if need be.
But much longer than that and I’m undone. Restless spirit syndrome begins to
shake my soul, and the urge to get up and get moving wrestles me from worship.
So on this January morning, as I
share this with you, I’m asking…will you be still and know that He is God with
me? For a moment?
God had a lot to show me in the
year that followed that frosty morning. I’ll be sharing what I learned from
time to time as we go through 2012 together.
So Happy New Year! I look forward
to linking arms and hearts in 2012.
Let’s
Pray
Dear Lord, Help me to learn what
it means to live and move and have my being in You. Thank You for a New Year. I
am excited to see what You have in store.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.”
“Return to
your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.” Matt. 116:7 Amplified Bible
“For thus
said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: In returning {to Me} and resting {in
Me} you shall be saved; in quietness and in {trusting} confidence shall be your
strength…” Is. 30:15 Amp.
jowildflowers@gmail.com jean-oathout.blogspot.com
Tomorrow’s
blog post: How
to Experience Christ’s Peace
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