I’ve been in Evansville since Monday and I returned back home this afternoon. To be sure, I’ve been on the run for several days and after work last evening, I decided to chill out and spend my time in quiet solitude. Now those of you who know me realize that I’m pretty much a social kind of guy – so I go out to eat and shop and do all sorts of things that keep me out of my hotel room. But last night, it was clear to me that I needed some down time – alone time if you will – communing with the Creator of the universe.
When I was back in seminary, it was common for me to slow down and work on my relationship with the Father. But since then, back in the corporate world, I have really have to guard my time to make sure that I don’t get drawn into the things of the world. And that’s not as easy as it seems. It is so tempting for me to fill up my time and stay on the go all day – every day. But that’s not healthy – for several reasons. For starters, sometimes I don’t get enough rest and then I am susceptible to getting sick. Then I fall even further behind and so that really isn’t a great solution. But more important than the health concerns about my physical body, I tend to have concerns about my spiritual health. That’s right – spiritual health.
If you really want to get to know someone, you must invest time in the relationship. And when I have distractions in my day to day life, I find that it is easy to put the spiritual stuff on hold and not pay enough attention to my devotional time. It’s not like some client is phoning me and wanting to know when I am going to show up. It’s much more subtle than that. Because we serve a patient God. When we’re too busy to commune with Him, He will wait for us, when He has our undivided attention, and then give us that quiet nudge that lets us know that we have been delinquent in our time commitment to Him.
That’s the nudge that I received yesterday. An undeniable signal that I just needed to chill out and spend a little down time in quiet solitude. And you know what? It was awesome. Just the way that I thought it would be. I just wonder why I have to wait until I go too far one direction before I make a course correction. I would like to have this kind of closeness to God all the time, but it is elusive sometimes.
The verse for this evening is from one of the more obscure books of the Bible. From Zechariah 2:13, “Be still before the LORD, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.” Short and to the point. My encouragement this evening is that God is waiting for you to spend time with Him as well. My prayer is that when life seems overly hectic and you just don’t have time to slow down, put your life on hold and just take a little while to soak in the glory of God. You won’t be disappointed and I can almost guarantee that you will feel rejuvenated. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…