Skip to main content

Hurry Up! Not Yet!

             Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. (Psalm 119:35)

 

            Hurry up! Not yet! Yes, it’s that time. As I migrate, anxiety creeps in. I want to do what God wants me to do. But what does He want me to do? I think it’s safe to assume that He wants me to live in my house and go to the church I’ve been attending for years. I’m sure I’m supposed to return to work at the garden center. There are other ideas. But what if I’m wrong?

            One of the things that Pastor John Ortberg has repeated from Dallas Willard’s books is the idea that our goal is to become the sort of people that God can trust to let do what we want because what we want is in sync with what God wants. Today’s verse asks God to direct us because we find delight in His commands, which means that if we are delighting in what we’re doing, God has directed us there. There’s no room for anxiety.

            The problem is that anxiety is energy, and energy has to go somewhere, and do something. “Hurry up! Not yet!”  is like putting one foot on the gas and the brake and pushing with all your might. It’s also like taking a dog into a place with uncarpeted floors and listen as they try to claw its way toward whatever has caught its attention and doesn’t get anywhere because you’re holding the leash.

            But the key to these times is to avoid letting the energy turn toxic. Pray. Present your request to God, then do something useful and good. You may need to decide whether to take path A or path B, but what can you do to prepare you and yours to be able to move out? What are the tasks that need to be done that may have nothing to do with either path but need to be done? ‘

            The day I wrote this, I did three loads of laundry and made a batch of dog treats. I gardened and crafted and whimpered at God because I don’t know what I’m supposed to do starting next Thursday morning. How much better would I have felt if I’d listened to good music, read, cleaned, or did something useful? You’d think I’d have learned, but I chose to whine. Yes, I took my concerns to God, but what joy we miss because we’re too busy living in the future or in the past.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Way, The Truth, and The Life

              Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me . (John 14:6)           If “I am the gate of the sheep…I am the good shepherd” from chapter 10 is a double whammy, this verse is a triple whammy. And its first victim is the notion that any other so-called god was acceptable or the same as Jesus. He, and He alone is the way, the truth, and the life, and the only way to get to the Father. There is no other Savior, or Redeemer, according to Jesus. Now, to be fair, other religions will claim that their religion or god(s) are the only way. That is the nature of gods and of religions. If this and that are equally good and agree on what’s necessary, then this and that are the same thing, so there’s no need to from the other to one. If that’s the case, then why speak against the other or promote the one? There’s a song I’ve been listening to i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen To Him

              The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him . (Deuteronomy 18:15)           Today, we switch from Jesus’ claims of “I am” to prophecies made about Him. My Bible platform is starting in Deuteronomy. I’d start in Genesis, where we would learn that the one who would save us would be a descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15), of Noah (by default), Abram and Sara(Genesis 12:1-3). Isaac (Genesis 17:19), Jacob (Genesis 25:23), Judah (Genesis 29:8), and David (II Samuel 7:12-16). There were also references to a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:22-32). In addition, there were prophecies about when and where the prophet/Messiah would be born and what would happen to him.           Of course, naysayers will claim that Jesus’ life was retrofitted or reverse enginee...
Post a Comment
Read more