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So I have had a rough couple weeks. I’ve just felt very overwhelmed by many different things that have been pushing on me lately. I cannot seem to shake any of these things. and by shake i simply mean to be able to get all of them off my mind and be able to focus solely on one thing. So many things are just consuming my mind and consuming everything that I am doing. I feel like I’ve pushed God completely out of all of these things because of the pressure and the “belief” that I have to get these things done today, right now, immediately! I am so sick of feeling like I always place God on the outside, thinking, well I’ll have time for him later. I think I need to take a retreat and get by myself for a few days. I need some time to regather myself and allow these “to-do items” to just pass by. I don’t mean not do them, but allow them to be there but not my focus. My focus needs to be my Savior and my Father cause he’s the only one who can make these “items” successful or somewhat worthy of his blessing.
>> Father God, please abide in me this week. Please become everything I do, everything I live for. Permeate my mind and my soul. Give me your spirit of rest and love. May I love as you did and always will. <<
At youthgroup I was asking all the student a question: Why is silence and solitude so hard to deal with? I got a lot of good answers and a lot of typical answers. But one stood out beyond most. A young man answered this: “Because I don’t like who I am and the silence reveals who I am”. How many of us are the exact same way? How many of us keep ourselves so busy, so tired because “we’re doing our part in bringing God’s kingdom to our world”. I’ve used this excuse before because I did not want to realize what I had become. The last thing I wanted was to realize that in my feeble attempt to do good, I had actually become something I never wanted.
In 1 Kings 19, we find part of Elijah’s story. This is after he has killed 450 prophets of Baal or however many there were. You probably know the story: Elijah is commanded to go to the top of a mountain because God will pass by him. When he reaches the top, he experiences a nasty wind that tears apart the rocks, an earthquake that makes his feet tremble, and a blazing fire. But God is not in any of these. After all of this, God speaks to Elijah in a gentle, humbling voice, probably as soft as a child’s voice. Imagine this: a father is conversing with a friend and his child desperately wants to speak with him. The child, in a fragile, almost scared motion, tugs on his knee and whispers “Daddy…”. It is within this voice that God speaks to us. How are we to listen to our Almighty God and Creator if we can’t even hear his voice?
Step back from your life. Take an evening to reflect on the past days. Do you have too much going on and have forgotten to spend that time with God? We all have the same amount of time and we all have opportunities for these things. Because we can say we’re trying to listen for God’s voice, but ultimately, how many of us allow that to permeate our entire life and existence for just a few minutes each week? I’m not talking an entire day of solitude, I’m just talking about three or four minutes. What if the answers we are seeking are in the silence?
Yes, it’s uncomfortable. Yes, you realize all the bad things you’ve done today. Yes, you begin to question your motives. But God begins to mold you in his image. His image of Jesus Christ, which is more glorious than any other.
creative canvas 