06/04/2023
It is true that God never forsakes us, but this morning we will contemplate the fear that we can have of being abandoned by Him. Let’s look back in our lives to identify a particular time of doubt we have encountered, and look into how such times are often associated with the quiet times in our faith, and the routine nature of our Christian lives.
“Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”
Hebrews 13:5 KJV
When we are saved by our Lord Jesus, and God begins to move in our lives, we feel His grandeur and realize that He has some great plan for us. In these times of excitement, challenge, and suffering, we feel His presence in a mighty way. This makes it easy to know God; as we feel Him, and work with Him, but can we handle those times when God desires us to be still, remain quiet, and rest?
Oswald Chambers realized how hard this was in his life, and wrote about it. Here are his words...
"Sometimes it is not difficulty that makes me think God will forsake me, but drudgery. There is no hill difficulty to climb, no vision given, nothing wonderful or beautiful, just the commonplace day in and day out - can I hear God's say-so in these things?" - Oswald Chambers
Chambers is right. Constantly doing things with the Lord makes trusting in Him feel natural, but the quiet times when He seems to ask us to be still, and do nothing, are also a part of our nature... and His.
When I was a young man and working hard at my job to make my mark, I had the opportunity to work side by side with a Vice President at my company. We worked through a project and became friends as we met and worked on a daily basis, but eventually the project was complete and he moved on to the next big thing while I was left to run this important part of the business that we had developed. Not seeing him each day left me with a feeling of loss. I had enjoyed the excitement, and his friendship, but now I was left alone with the routine job of running the business every day.
We have times like this in our faith as well. There are great times of incredible servitude in which we feel so close to God that His very presence energized us. We have a job to do and we go to work with Him every day! Then something happens... God tells us to be still, and we feel lost. The energy and excitement that were much like a drug, wanes, and we crave a renewal of that sense of closeness. In truth, God is right there, but He wants us to learn and do something different... to live happily and joyfully in the daily routine of our faith… to be still.
“Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”
Psalms 46:10 KJV
We all quote this scripture, but are you good at being still? Is this the greatest challenge to your faith? Do you begin to doubt His presence? Do you feel He has left you? Well, although we like to quote this scripture, many of us don't like to live it, but as we wrestle in the silence we should read the very next verse...
“The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.”
Psalms 46:11 KJV
Some of us just don't know how to be still, our entire self-worth is wrapped up in what we are actively doing for the Lord. As a matter of fact we are so intensely doing things that we begin to ignore the relationships in their lives. God doesn't want us to do that; so He tells us to be still and know that He is God. It is a quiet time of getting to know Him fully, and to know our brothers and sister in Christ.
I have known highly successful people and many of them are great at growing a business, but a total mess at running one, or in their personal lives. They never took the time to be still and build those all-important relationships. Sure, they took extravagant vacations and lavished gifts upon their employees, children, and wife, but amidst those goal oriented activities they neglected the all important ingredient of being still with them; knowing them intimately as something more than an accomplishment. They looked fine, but in truth they were a stranger in their own homes.
God wants us to have quiet time with Him, but for this to be successful we need to exhale and listen to Him breathe. We need to know God at a level that is routine and commonplace. He wants us to know much more than what He is doing... He wants us to understand and care about WHO He is. This comes with intimacy and is perfected in the quiet times.
A married couple develops intimacy and closeness in whispers, in gentle touches, and slow warm togetherness. When we have these times of stillness with God, we need to stop looking for the next big thing and be comfortable sitting with Him and just listening to Him breathe peace into us. In times when the routine and commonplace challenge us, we need to pray that our addiction to action be overcome and that the quiet breathing of God will teach us about a life with Him.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for all of the big things we do together, but what I love the most are our quiet times when I get to know you best. Lord, help me to become better at being still and knowing that you are God; help me to hear you breathe in and out in my life and feel the calm peace that you bring. Holy Father, never let me mistake the quiet times as being lesser times in my faith... they are in fact the most important when it comes to spending eternity with you. In our comfort we become much more than partners, we become joined at a level of intimate relationship that will sustain us for all time. Jesus, I know that our relationship isn't based on what I do each day, but why I do these things, and in my knowing your heart and the will of the Father. Let the quiet that you found while away from your apostles be just as important to me in my own walk of faith. In the day of judgement I don't want to hear you say "I never knew you." No Lord, lead me in silence, stillness, peace, and rest, because these are the things that bring me closest to you, and in them I come to truly know and understand you.
“Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
Matthew 7:22-23 KJV
Rich Forbes