Be Still

[weary warrior]

An article I wrote awhile back...

 

A CD player and radio in the car, a television in the living room and two or more computers place strategically throughout the house. A DVD player, a VCR and perhaps an Xbox or Wii may also be present just to round things out. If it is a Christian, conservative home, the music will be godly and classical, the movies are clean, wholesome and family oriented and the computer will be used for business, e-mail, Facebook and research for homeschool. The radio, of course, will be tuned only to conservative news, talk radio and Rush Linbaugh, Dave Ramsey, et al. There will be lots of books, tapes, DVD’s and CD’s full of preaching, Bible teaching, Bible studies, and the like. And of course, there is the phone, the ubiquitous cell phone, the 21^st century ball-and-chain with all of its nonstop calls and text messages.

    Life will be full of work, homeschool and church. There will be missions conferences, child training seminars and daily family devotions. Son will have football games to go to and daughter will practice daily on the piano in the den for her next recital. That dear, sweet, elderly lady from church needs to be visited and cheered up and someone needs to volunteer to cook a meal and drop it off for the new mother down the road.

    Ah, my friend. When did we ever get so busy being a Christian that is living for Christ that we became too busy for Christ himself? How does one become so busy studying about God that they don’t have time for God? Did we actually become so busy praying to God that we stopped waiting to hear from God? This should not be.

    Christ is a person. He has likes and dislikes, things he loves and things he hates, things that bring him joy as well as things that grieve him. He created you and then redeemed you (if you have been redeemed) so that he could fellowship with you, talk with you and walk with you. The truth is, no matter how hard we try, our studying about him does not thrill him near as much as our actually studying him.

    May I illustrate? My wife sits here with me in the living room, and she loves me. She wants to be with me, wants to hear about my day, wants to share her days with me. I can approach this in one of two ways. 

First, I can put on a music CD that expresses my love for her, get out her high school yearbook and study what her life must have been like in her youth. I can also put on a home movie of our wedding and then call her mom and all of my friends and brag loudly about what a good wife she is and how I much love her.

I somehow think, however, that in spite of all of my noise, all of my effort and motion she will be less than impressed, less than satisfied. What would please my wife, my friend, my lover, is if I turned off the DVD player, put away the books about her, turned off my cell phone and put it in a kitchen drawer, took her by the hand and we went for a quiet walk in the woods, just she and I. I could speak easily about things on my heart, and wait patiently for her gentle, wise reply. I could just hush, walking quietly, slowly and easily for time unmeasured, simply listening to her and her thoughts, her longings, her dreams, her heart.

I can study about my wife, or I can study her. Which will be more productive? I can ask for baby pictures from her dad, interview her grandmother and pour over her school transcripts. I could but that would be as tedious, pointless and dutiful as bible study is for many Christians. Or I could spend time with her, listening to her, seeing her expressions, noticing the little wrinkles that appear above her nose when something is unpleasant, the twinkle in her eyes when she finds something humorous. I can actually listen when she talks and learn what she fears, what she hopes, what she endures.

God walked with Adam in the cool of the day, Moses spoke face to face with God as a man speaketh with a friend in Exodus 33:11 and David communed with God on his bed at night. Jesus gently rebuked Martha for all of her business rushing about serving him while Mary quietly sat with him. John alone was known as the disciple whom Jesus loved, and he was the one reclining on Christ’s breast at the last supper.

Remember in I Kings 19 where Elijah was running for his life and he went seeking God’s face? He arrived at Mount Horeb and entered a cave. You should read the story again.

There came a great wind, but God was not in the wind. Eventually the best preaching, the best Bible studies, the greatest DVD’s, CD’s and news letters are just wind, and God will not be found in them. They are about God, yes and good, but they do not contain God. You who are truly searching for a word from God will never find it in words about God. This is wind.

Then there was an earthquake, but God was not in the earthquake. So much motion. So busy. So tired. All of your work may be for God, but it does not contain God, and you will never find a relationship with him in your service. He’s not there.

Then there was a fire, but God was not in the fire. The music, the seminars, the conferences and the feel-good books will surely build the emotion and stoke the fire, enabling you to perhaps move a little further forward for Him, but he will not come to you in the fire.

When the wind was still, after the earth stopped shaking, when the fire died down, there was a stillness, a silence, an end of all that was external. And in that stillness, that silence, that aloneness, there came a still, small voice. It was in that still small voice that Elijah finally heard from his God.

How long has it been, my friend, since you experienced an extended time of silence, of stillness and of aloneness? Since you stopped studying about him and actually studied him, in person? He is, after all, your creator, your redeemer, your friend and the lover of your soul.

[Jordan Kurecki]

Thank you for posting this, I know I needed this reminder.

[weary warrior]

23 minutes ago, Jordan Kurecki said:

Thank you for posting this, I know I needed this reminder.

You're welcome, brother. When I wrote it, it was a painful reminder to me as well. I'm glad it helped you.

[Marilyn C]

On ‎5‎/‎01‎/‎2017 at 10:13 AM, weary warrior said:

 

 

When the wind was still, after the earth stopped shaking, when the fire died down, there was a stillness, a silence, an end of all that was external. And in that stillness, that silence, that aloneness, there came a still, small voice. It was in that still small voice that Elijah finally heard from his God.

 

How long has it been, my friend, since you experienced an extended time of silence, of stillness and of aloneness? Since you stopped studying about him and actually studied him, in person? He is, after all, your creator, your redeemer, your friend and the lover of your soul.

Hi weary warrior,

You article reminded me of a prophecy my grandmother kept from years ago. I will just write the first part -

`It is the subterfuge of hell; it is the cunning craftiness of the carnal mind, to surround you with so much din and noise that the quiet whisper of your God may not be able to penetrate. The is nothing that brings more terror into the enemy`s camp than the divinely imposed silences that are known among My people, for these silences are pregnant with a revelation of God, and the enemy is always seeking to draw you away from such a revelation.`

regards, Marilyn.