"...in quietness and trust is your strength".
(Isaiah 30:15)
Yesterday God showed me how difficult it is for us to be quiet and patient in trusting Him and He used an incident with one of my farm workers to do that.
Calvin and I both had to renew our licenses and had a joint appointment for that in town. When we were finished with our appointment, I went to the Spar shop to buy some groceries. Calvin decided to wait for me outside the shop at the car wash where some of his friends work. As I walked into the Spar, I remembered that I actually needed to run an important errand for my husband at the other side of town and decided to go there first and then rather buy my groceries at the Pick and Pay shop. I told Calvin that I was going to the other center but that he could stay at the Spar shop and chat with his friends. I told him that he must just wait there until I come back to fetch him. I finished all my errands, picked up my son who also had an appointment in town and went back to the Spar to pick up Calvin only to find that he was gone. We drove around and around the center to see if we could find him. I tried to call him but his phone just kept ringing. In the end, exasperated, I drove back home whilst keeping an eye out for him alongside the road. He was nowhere to be seen and he was also not back home. I was really worried as I joined my parents on a lunch date. It was only about half an hour later that I managed to reach him on his phone. He explained that when I didn't turn up after 45 minutes, he tried to find me and then took a taxi home. This cost him a lot of money and trouble!
God showed me that this is exactly what we so often do. Over and over He promises us that He will provide in our needs, guide our steps and help us yet, when we have to wait even a short while, we start running around making our own plans often to our own detriment. Then when God 'comes' we are not where we should be.
It is easy to say that we trust God but the proof is often in the waiting.
We pray for restoration of relationships or health, solutions to problems we face, direction and vision regarding plans, projects and decisions we have to make....and then God is silent. The problem is, the culture we live in does not allow for us to be still, to wait, to do nothing or to postpone decisions. We are expected to be ever visibly busy, purposeful and productive. Goals must be set, tasks must be done, solutions must be found, problems must be solved. Waiting is a big no-no.
And so we don't wait upon God. Instead we pour out our words; we rush into relationships and then we rush the relationships; we want loved ones and people to be instantly perfect; likewise we want sanctification to be an instant act rather than a lifelong daily process; we make hasty decisions; we undertake tasks and responsibilities we were not supposed to take upon us and get worn down; we panic, worry and lose hope and we rely on our own understanding.
We don't wait upon God and so we miss His quiet voice. In the process of running around we can't hear what He wants to teach us, say to us, show us or reveal to us. We run right pass the opened door and bump our heads against the closed one. We don't get still enough to receive His comfort. We're too busy to receive Him or to know Him and His purpose for us and our loved ones.
If there is one area in which I have a desire to grow, it is in quietness and trust in the Lord.
This year, it will be ok to not have a thousand goals or activities. It will be ok to say no or to postpone an action or a decision when I have not received a confirmation or direction from the Lord. It will be ok to be quiet and not give an instant answer to a problem. It will be ok to say no to the pressures of the world. It will be ok to just be still, spend time with the Lord and come to know Him and His presence in that stillness. This will certainly be a challenge but I am reminded of Jesus' words when He said that if we lack anything, we should ask the Father. In our weakness, we can ask the Father to give us the necessary patience, quietness and trust and we can know that He will do this for it is His will that we rest in His presence.
I will long remember my frustration yesterday because Calvin had to get home on his own because he did not wait for me as I told him to, when the whole purpose of us going together for our licenses was to save him the trouble and the cost of all this traveling as we live out of town and on a road that is not serviced by taxis and people often have to travel long distances by foot if they don't get a lift.
God is not against us, He is for us. His purpose is to prosper us, to give us a hope and a future. He cannot and will never forget us. We are His dearly loved children. Let us then learn to trust Him and patiently wait upon Him!
God bless
Lize
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