Sometimes we expect for things to move quickly but they don’t. We long for the next breakthrough or shift or season but time seems to move slower and slower.
And suddenly.
But God.
Such powerful phrases that change the trajectory of our lives. Sometimes, always perhaps, they come after long periods of waiting. Periods where we figure out how to do life with God instead of simply for him. Periods where we figure out what it means to love and to lay down our life.
Recently I had a really fun encounter with Jesus, which I’ll save for another time, but the point of the encounter was to remind me that “it always goes dark when I take my eyes off of Him.” When my focus shifts to what is going on around me and the places I think I lack, it is like Peter stepping out onto that water with Jesus. The storms came and he looked away for a moment and before he knew it, he was sinking.
What if we could walk through life with our eyes fixed like flint with the biggest blinders you ever did see? I wonder what we could accomplish. I wonder how many fires we could walk through like Daniel’s friends or shipwrecks we could endure like Paul if we could simply keep our eyes on the prize…Jesus.
God is so good to invite us to where He will meet us. This past 6 months in Seattle has been interesting. It has been hard and uncomfortable and yet there is such a sweet grace that follows me. A grace that lets me rest in the truth of who God is for me…a perfect Papa. He requires nothing of me and yet loves me.
Until you get your “and suddenly,” keep going! – Kris Vallotton
In all of it though, there is a simple surrender. I do not say easy, for it seems to be the hardest thing I have done yet, but simple it is. A surrender of your conceived power to perform and earn and work and settle into the most intimate gaze you will ever experience. A gaze that leaves you full of life when all the fit hits the shan. A gaze that sustains you in the desert. A gaze that leaves your heart hopeful because you see Him and know Him.
That might sound completely impossible. I probably would have thought so as well unless I had experienced it. As I have spent hours meditating on Psalm 23, I can’t help but find hope in the words, the meanings, the contextual gifts.
The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not [ever be in] want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters.
He restores my soul [brings me back to life];
He guides me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff [protection and correction], they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You have anointed my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
Surely [only] goodness and loving-kindness will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.[ ] notes of things that stood out in study
There is no context in which we will ever be in lack because He is in us and we are in Him. He is the good Shepherd who sees us. He provides and protects. He corrects and makes us lie down to rest and be restored. He celebrates us and celebrates with us. The enemy can sure tempt us to believe there is lack, however, when we aren’t looking at Him. When we loose sight of all that He has done, is doing and will do!
May God ever so sweetly meet you on your journey.