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Respite For the Weary
Happy New Year to each of you! It seems that January 1st comes faster and faster. This day, more than any other day of the year, is a "stake in the ground", monumental, decision-making day. Our list of resolutions are made, and hopefully will be kept in the days/months ahead.
As I have thought about what I will resolve to do this year, I have heard the Lord speak two words to my heart, and I think these words go hand-in-hand: kneel and abide.
Psalm 95:6 says: Come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
I think the physical act of kneeling portrays the spiritual condition of our heart. When we bow down, we are submitting in reverence, agreeing with our Creator that He is in control of each of our lives, not us. In kneeling, we relinquish our daily plans and humbly ask Him to direct our steps, each and every one. And in this place,we will find our strong and mighty King ready to act as the faithful and Good Shepherd... who abides.
The very next verse, Psalm 95:7 says: For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. What a beautiful truth: the same God that created me, also stays with me. Our God is an abiding God. We see this in the desert with the Israelites when God promises, My presence will go with you and I will give you rest. (Exodus 33:14). And we see this through Jesus when he says, Abide in Me, and I in you. (John 15:4). So the question of abiding is not about wether or not God is abiding with me; it really is, am I abiding with God? I hear Him calling me, "Breathe Me in Chris, trust Me, obey Me, each step, each thought, each response... each day."
So what are my resolutions for 2011? My hope is to start my day on my knees saying, "Lord, You are in control, please show me how to live today." And then when I rise, I hope to breathe in my abiding God, so I hear and obey His directive voice on January 1st, January 2nd, January 3rd... April 23rd... August 13th... October 14th... December 31st...
Would you like to join me in kneeling before our Maker, and abiding in His shepherding love? I can assure you, our God will not disappoint us.
Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water..." John 4:13-15
Dear Lord,
Forgive us when we try to quench our thirst from places other than you. Our soul was created to crave your truth and it cannot be satisfied with anything else. May we choose to stay at your well and take one reviving sip, and then another, and then another...In Jesus' Name, Amen.