July 26, 2017
Summer is rapidly flying towards Fall. The world turns relentlessly on its axis. Though everyone has the same twenty-four hours, sometimes it seems there is not enough time to accomplish all of the demands of life. For others, an hour seems like an eternity. Because of infirmity, incarceration, loneliness, or disability, time seems to crawl. Fast or slow, God has asked us to redeem the time for the days are evil. Because of the curse, all any of us have is a dash between our birth date and our death date. Once the clock has moved past a moment of our existence, it is gone never to be recovered. It is spent good or ill and is part of our record of existence.
Somewhere between ceaseless activity and dormancy there is a God-given balance to life. But for us to discover this balance we need to spend some time early in the day with the Lord. Sometimes we act like hamsters running on that little wheel in their cage going in a perpetual circle, but not going anywhere. For us “hamsters” I recommend. “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:10).
Other times, we can become despondent and so self-absorbed with negativity we are glued to the bed or the couch and depressed and move like slugs. For us slugs, I recommend Isaiah 40:31 “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
Notice I used the pronoun ‘us’ in my descriptions. That is because I have been in both places and own the T-Shirt as some like to say. Either extreme is a waste of the gift of life and so unnecessary. Also notice the cure for either time waster is to spend some time with the Lord. Be still, oh ye hamsters, and get off the treadmill. Bow down thyself at His feet and take a breath of celestial air and get your instructions from the Lord. Rise up from thy couch, oh slug, and look up and wait upon the goodness of the Lord for His strength to face the day.
One thing is for certain, time spent with the Lord is not wasted time. After all, did He not save us for Himself? Does not a faithful dog find its greatest pleasure in tagging along with its master? Not only do we need to start the day but live the day with Him. We need to learn how to consciously walk with the Lord throughout the day, share with Him our moments of joy, give Him our moments of frustration, praise and thank Him for the day, and ask Him to illuminate each step of the day. This is not natural behavior. This is supernatural as we allow God to have more and more of us and as we depend more and more upon Him than ourselves.
May God help us to practice His presence,
Yours in Christ,
Pastor John Schofield
Psalm 32:7-8 “Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah. I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.”
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