As I’m learning to listen this year, the Lord is teaching me something amazing.
He slows me so He can show me.
That slowing isn’t punishment or discipline, it’s a gift He offers. Sadly though, I think it’s a gift we reject far too often. We’d rather be busy, accomplishing, working, straining, pushing. Oh we say we wish we could slow down, could find quiet spaces to hear from Him, but most of us don’t really want that. We are afraid.
Afraid of what He’ll say.
Afraid of what He’ll ask.
Afraid of what we’ll see.
Afraid of how we’ll react.
And so instead of waiting, of being still, of listening … we fill those crevices of silence with activity. We fill the margins of our lives with notes and promises, commitments and obligations. We use the quiet early morning hours to be productive and accomplish. And by the time the stillness of night arrives, we’re too drained to do anything but fill the spaces with television or Facebook or Pinterest.
But what if the waiting is really the important part? What if the quiet stillness before we hear God is the moment that changes everything?
What if the reason we can’t hear Him at all is because we never got still, never waited?
What if we chose to wait … purposed to be still and quiet until we hear from Him?
What happens then?
I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to find out!
“He slows me so he can show me.” I love that line. The biggest waits in my life have come when we were adopting our two kids. We’re hoping to adopt a third time, so, here we are, waiting, again. I agree that often we wait because God is orchestrating something that needs more time, His time.