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“God never hurries. There are no deadlines against which he must work. Only to know this is to quiet our spirits and relax our nerves.”
― A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God
It may seem strange to you that I posted a photo of elephants for this quote. To me, they seem the epitome of peaceful, easy-going beings. When I get impatient with God’s pace, I’m going to try to picture these elephants, and be content, knowing my God is in control and I need not worry. What helps you to wait on God?
The path opens to a clearing larger than a football field. Waist high brome grasses sway slightly in a gentle waltz with the nearly imperceptible breeze. Nearby branches of the trees merely watch the waltz, too heavily laden with yellow-green hedge apples to dance. On the far side of the field lies a painter’s palette of trees, showing their fall colors—green, yellow, orange, brown, and rust, accented by splashes of bright red sumac and strong, dark, tree trunks. Wildflowers once stood in this field. Three- and four-foot-high dried stalks now cover the meadow, their seed heads white and full, ready to release millions of umbrella ribs to flower another field.
Eager to get to the bridge and the swollen stream, I risk a quick crossing of the muddy path. My right foot sinks three inches into the soft black ooze, but I make it safely to the bridge. The recent rain has forced the creek out of its bed. Noisily it rushes through unfamiliar territory, over its former banks and around tree trunks, its strength rippling the mud-brown water, carrying foamy bubbles downstream. The rushing water rocks the dying trees, tipping them on their sides from the water’s force, but their roots hold firm against its assault. One tree reaches toward the flood, its green and yellow leaves bending toward the water like a girl bending over to wash her hair.
A man in a bright orange shirt jogs by on the muddy path, his leashed German shepherd loping at his side. For a moment, I think how alone and vulnerable I am. But the rushing water quickly lulls me back to my peaceful reverie. The surface ripples, like a cat flexing the muscles on its back. Walking to the far side of the bridge, not watching where I am going, I step in the mud again and my foot slips, nearly dumping me on my backside. Perhaps it is time to head for home? Reluctantly, I amble across the bridge, promising myself to return soon.
As I walk home, I realize how seldom I take advantage of these nature walks a mere quarter mile from my home. The peace, beauty, and serenity of God’s handiwork lie just outside my front door to enjoy whenever I choose. How seldom I choose!
Lord, forgive me for those many times that my nearsighted eyes fail to see Your grandeur. Open my eyes to behold Your glory.
Amos 5:4b “Seek me and live.”
“We never grow closer to God when we just live life. It takes deliberate pursuit and attentiveness.”
— Francis Chan
My Friday morning Bible study group is reading one of Francis Chan’s books together: Letters to the Church. Every book of his I’ve read has challenged me to grow closer to God.
Dictionary.com defines “fortress” as a place of exceptional security or a stronghold. I don’t know about you, but I find it comforting to know that the Lord provides me with a place of exceptional security.
That’s a place where I can feel safe, safe from harm, safe to be myself, safe to express myself. It’s a place where I can be unconditionally loved. Even, or especially, in times of trouble. That feels to me like a big, warm hug.
Thank you, Lord, for this reminder that you are there, in good times and in bad. Thank you for your unfailing protection, especially in times of trouble. Thank you for loving me in spite of me.
“If Christ is not all to you He is nothing to you. He will never go into partnership as a part Saviour of men. If He be something He must be everything, and if He be not everything He is nothing to you.”
― Charles H. Spurgeon
Definitely a thought-provoking quote.
The poet Robert Burns said, “the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray.” From the wisdom of Proverbs, it seems we shouldn’t be upset when then happens. Instead, we should rejoice in God’s plan for us.
Lord, remind me to consult you before I make all my “wonderful” plans for my future. I’m so grateful that you do have a plan for me, one that will give me a hope and a future. See Jeremiah 29:11
Do you remember how the Pharisees tested Jesus by asking Him which was the greatest commandment in the law? You know, the one where He passed the test with this basic reply: Love God and love your neighbor. As I’ve been meditating on these verses, I realize Jesus spent much of His ministry showing us who our neighbors are and showing us how to love them.
In Jesus’ time on earth, people believed illnesses occurred because of sin, either the person’s or his parents’. Jesus healed people from all kinds of maladies. Many were blind, crippled, deaf, paralyzed. Some were even untouchable lepers. Yet He healed them; He had compassion for them all. Even though they were sick and “unclean,” Jesus loved His neighbors.
He taught about the good Samaritan, the man who stopped to help an Israelite who’d been robbed and beaten. Other Jewish men had chosen to ignore the wounded man and walk on the other side of the road, but the foreigner, the hated Samaritan, stopped to help. Even though the Jews hated him, the Samaritan loved his neighbor.
When with his disciples, Jesus walked through Samaria rather than skirting around it as others did, for they wanted nothing to do with the despised Samarian people. In Samaria, Jesus stopped to talk with the woman at the well, a Samaritan who had had five husbands and then lived with a man she hadn’t married. Jesus looked past a hated Samaritan living in sin and saw a woman who needed a Savior. Jesus loved His neighbor.
He talked Zacchaeus, a cheating, hated tax collector, out of that tree. He went into his home, ate with him, and talked with him. No respectful man would even have thought of doing this, but Jesus loved that cheater.
Jesus even had a despised tax collector as one of his 12 apostles and Mary Magdalen, a former prostitute, as part of his larger group of followers.
The Pharisees criticized him for eating and drinking with sinners. They didn’t look below the surface, didn’t take a deeper look. They didn’t see individual people. They saw groups of people: impure Samaritans, sin-filled diseased people, cheating tax collectors, and immoral women, nothing more.
But Jesus took a deeper look. He looked with holy eyes, deep into their souls. He saw unique individuals created in His Father’s image. He saw beloved neighbors, and He loved them, with words and deeds.
I have always viewed myself as caring and compassionate toward others. But when I look again at the scriptures, when I look again at His loving actions, I hang my head in shame. How far short I fall from loving my neighbors the way Jesus loves them.
Lord, you know there are times I have stereotyped people rather than seeing individuals created and loved by God. I have seen and judged their sin, not the beloved neighbor. And I realize I’ve sinned. I ask You for forgiveness. I seek Your wisdom so I can view others through Jesus’ eyes. I long to learn how to love them.
What about you? Are you ready to take a deeper look?
Matt. 22:37-39 NIV. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
“He remembers our frame and knows that we are dust. He may sometimes chasten us, it is true, but even this He does with a smile, the proud, tender smile of a Father who is bursting with pleasure over an imperfect but promising son who is coming every day to look more and more like the One whose child he is.”― A.W. Tozer
Oh, Lord, you know that sometimes I want to mete out justice. “This person deserves this punishment, and those people deserve that,” I think in my arrogance. The words of Your Son, my Savior, humble me. “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” Mt. 7:1. In Your time and Your way, Lord, “Let justice run on like a river.”
Growing Our Faith Together 