I am a busy woman. I have many responsibilities. All day long at work I am dashing from one task to the next, desperately trying to complete all my tasks in what seems to be an unreasonably short amount of time. I finish one thing to move on to the next. Checking off to do list items, meeting deadlines, accomplishing goals. Everyday, all day long. There are always many things to do and no time to waste.
All too often this mentality spills over into my spiritual life as well. I read the Bible as though I am racing some unknown opponent. And should I happen to slow down long enough for God to speak to me through a portion of Scripture, rather than waiting and pondering on the verses until I have extracted every bit of meaning the Spirit of God is giving, I feel the pressure to get more reading done and hurry forward, leaving precious truths unrevealed. There is some little nagging thought that it is a waste of time to wait. God can tell me what He needs to tell me quickly, right? What if I stop and camp on this verse, when there’s some new discovery waiting in the next chapter?
Always hurrying from one thing to the next, I enjoy little. Thinking that I am being a good steward of my time by accomplishing great quantities of things, the frenzy of my soul shuts out the voice of God.
And the honest answer to my question is that although I would never say it, if I stopped to get quiet and wait on God every time I felt that He was trying to teach me something, I would feel as though I was wasting time that could be spent in “more productive” endeavors.
Always anxious for the next thing, I am missing out on the now thing.
CONCLUSION: God is not wasting my time. I am wasting my time.
Eirene,
I am all for scheduling and making good use of your time – you sound like a very efficient woman! I know you already concluded that you need to slow down, but I wanted to encourage you with a couple other things.
First, it’s our culture that tells us that praying and sitting with/waiting on the Lord is wasting our time. In 1 Corinthians 1 & 2, God says that He destroys the wisdom of the wise – His ways are not our ways. He says His wisdom is “foolishness to this world” (praying to an invisible God). It’s us offering up our weak prayers that cause His purposes to come to pass.
Second, Psalm 27:4 says, “One thing I have desired of the Lord, …that I may behold the beauty of the Lord and inquire in His temple.” So when you said you are missing out on the “now thing,” what if it’s even simpler than that? What if it’s missing out on the one important thing? We as humans can get so caught up in the natural and forget that God has called us to so much more: to spend time with Him and learn about the things He cares about, to behold Him until we become like Him…
EireneAugust 14, 2008 / 11:42 pm
Alyssa,
Hi and thank you for your comments. Let me respond by saying YES! That’s exactly it! When I spoke of the “now thing”, I think we are talking about the same thing. It is delighting in Christ in this present moment, instead of always rushing forward into the future. Sitting at His feet and learning of Him. Like Mary anointing Him with the costly ointment – the world sees waste; Jesus sees worship.
I am indeed encouraged by your comments. Let us continue to behold Him, being changed from glory to glory.
Eirene
ScottieAugust 15, 2008 / 10:41 am
For those of us with a ‘Martha’ type of personality, it’s very hard to NOT rush through say reading the Bible or resting at God’s feet.
We’re on a schedule…waiting just messes up things. Of course what we fail to realize at the time is that without his input our day is shot to pieces before it even get’s started.
Finding ‘Mary’ is very hard for me, but I get so rewarded when I let her out.
He is my Delight 
Eirene,
I am all for scheduling and making good use of your time – you sound like a very efficient woman! I know you already concluded that you need to slow down, but I wanted to encourage you with a couple other things.
First, it’s our culture that tells us that praying and sitting with/waiting on the Lord is wasting our time. In 1 Corinthians 1 & 2, God says that He destroys the wisdom of the wise – His ways are not our ways. He says His wisdom is “foolishness to this world” (praying to an invisible God). It’s us offering up our weak prayers that cause His purposes to come to pass.
Second, Psalm 27:4 says, “One thing I have desired of the Lord, …that I may behold the beauty of the Lord and inquire in His temple.” So when you said you are missing out on the “now thing,” what if it’s even simpler than that? What if it’s missing out on the one important thing? We as humans can get so caught up in the natural and forget that God has called us to so much more: to spend time with Him and learn about the things He cares about, to behold Him until we become like Him…
Alyssa,
Hi and thank you for your comments. Let me respond by saying YES! That’s exactly it! When I spoke of the “now thing”, I think we are talking about the same thing. It is delighting in Christ in this present moment, instead of always rushing forward into the future. Sitting at His feet and learning of Him. Like Mary anointing Him with the costly ointment – the world sees waste; Jesus sees worship.
I am indeed encouraged by your comments. Let us continue to behold Him, being changed from glory to glory.
Eirene
For those of us with a ‘Martha’ type of personality, it’s very hard to NOT rush through say reading the Bible or resting at God’s feet.
We’re on a schedule…waiting just messes up things. Of course what we fail to realize at the time is that without his input our day is shot to pieces before it even get’s started.
Finding ‘Mary’ is very hard for me, but I get so rewarded when I let her out.