Whisper

And the word of the LORD came to me: "What are you doing here, Alex?". So I told him. And he said, "Go stand over there, because I am about to pass by."

Then a great wind tore through the room, but the LORD was not in the wind. Then an earthquake shook the very ground I was standing on, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire that raged out of control, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

When I heard the whisper, I pulled my jacket closer around me and covered my face with my hands and stepped out from the shadows.

And God, in a voice gentler than anything I had ever heard, asked me again, "What are you doing here, Alex?"

I swallowed and took a breath and dared to answer him. What am I doing here?

I realized that the answer was still the same. I was doing the same thing now as I was before the wind and the earthquake and the fire. But this time it was different. Somehow. This time my heart had changed.

And God said, "Here's my task for you. Go and do it. Now you're ready."

[Based off of 1 Kings 19:10-18]

Temple Tuesday

My soul, wait in silence for God only,

For my hope is from Him.
He only is my rock and my salvation,

My stronghold; I shall not be shaken.
On God my salvation and my glory rest;

The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God.
Trust in Him at all times, O people;

Pour out your heart before Him;

God is a refuge for us.

Men of low degree are only vanity and men of rank are a lie;

In the balances they go up; They are together lighter than breath.
Do not trust in oppression, And do not vainly hope in robbery.

If riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.
Once God has spoken; Twice I have heard this:

That power belongs to God;
And lovingkindness is Yours, O Lord,

For You recompense a man according to his work.

Psalm 62

NASB

A Psalm of David

Enjoying God

Well, after that passionate post yesterday about taking action and following God and obeying his every command, I find an interesting status update on Facebook from a friend which really spoke to me. Here I am, all excited about doing God’s will for the purpose of obedience and I read this status, which says,“The key to serving God is to enjoy God. If you don’t enjoy God, you’re not ready to serve him. For God doesn’t want your help, he wants your heart.” (from my friend Evan).

God doesn't want my help.

This makes me think of something I dived into a bit earlier on this blog. And that is the concept of being still. Psalm 46:10 says, "Be still, and know that I am God...". Exodus 14:14, Moses speaking to the depressed and complaining Isralites, states: "The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."

In the NASB, Psalm 46:10 reads, "Cease striving and know that I am God...". Why would knowing God is God stop us from striving? Psalm 100:3 says, "Know that the LORD Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture." When we get it into our minds that God is in control, that He is the Almighty Lord of all, the King of everything, the great, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient Creator God... when we even try to wrap our minds around it... It gives us a bit of peace. It does for me at least. One of the main causes of stress, of striving, is the false thought that maybe God can't handle it, that maybe he doesn't know what he's doing. I mean, honestly, God creates the whole world from nothing, then I come along and get all upset that he's messing up my life. Looking at myself from that perspective, I can be really ridiculous sometimes.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you're focused on anything but God, you're going to mess up. We can do a lot of good things in life, even people who don't believe in God can do nice things for other people. But true good, true satisfaction, true purpose and meaning, only come from God. Your life should be like a flowchart. Out of God's love he saved us. And because of that salvation and that love, we then give God everything we have, and by means of that, we love other people - the "whatever you do to the least of these" philosophy (Matt 25:40). Don't do seemingly "good" things to get something from God. Do them because of what God has already given you.

And, by the way, when we are satisified, we will stop striving. John Piper said, "God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in him." Along with the idea that God knows what he's doing in our lives is the realization that God is all we need. Nothing else can satisfy.

Ask God to show you what it looks like to find him the center of your life. Ask God to give you the desire and the power to focus on Him and to love him and to enjoy him for who he is and what he has done.

I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me.

- Psalm 13:6