What up Y’all! I know it’s been a while since I dropped a blog article. I’ve been practicing what I’m about to preach—getting still. Getting still can be a hard thing to do. There is always something to do. So much so, that if we aren’t intentional about getting still—we run the risk of going and going on empty—until we run out.
Even God—the one in whom we are created to reflect his image—modeled rest for us. When intentionally getting still, we aren’t just going to bed early to sleep. Instead, we remove some things from our plate creating the margin for us to refresh—mentally, spiritually, emotionally, socially, and physically.
Getting still refreshes the whole person. We have time to think, see, or perceive things without the stress of always being on a deadline. Sometimes it’s nice to not always have to run to the next thing. We are better able to enjoy life experiences at a steadier pace.
Getting still also better enables us to hear from God preparing us for our next season. Finally, getting more still creates the margin in our lives to have the capacity to handle life challenges. In April of this year, I felt a pulling away from the work of social media and blogging.
This pulling away, allowed me to feel what it feels like to just be. Not to always do, but to be. There is a difference. Doing all of the time can have us in the mindset of always working and never stopping to enjoy the fruit of our labor. That fruit may not always look like money. Perhaps, it’s diligence or an area being exposed that we need to be built up in such as waning belief because we are laboring but not seeing expected fruit. Expected fruit can be a shift or promise from God being fulfilled.
When God does things; however, he doesn’t do them on our timetable, rhythm, or expectation. He does things according to his process. He prizes our inner man to be at a place of quietness, rest, peace, and total surrender to him. Sometimes, constantly working when God is saying to rest is a sign that our trust is in ourselves and our work more than God to fulfill his promise.
God is a jealous God and he will not have any other God before him—not even something that appears good like work, hustle, or grind. These are things held high within our culture without necessarily acknowledging God within the work. The door becomes open for pride if we are successful without acknowledging God and unbelief toward God if we work and do not find the expected success. The Bible makes it clear that those who labor are laboring in vain unless God is within the building of the house (Ps 127:1.)
Even when God called for the rebuilding of the temple of God after the Babylonian exile of Israel, God was in the rebuilding of the temple. He touched the hearts of several different people involved in the process adding favor to see it to completion. It was a process, but it got done with God’s help. In this example, God touched the heart of King Cyrus causing him to give favor to Israel funding the rebuilding. He touched Zerubbabel and others.
This allows us to see that work is not a bad thing unless we are seeking to bring something to pass God has promised without his help—his favor, and his leading. Someone said anything built outside of God will have to be sustained outside of God. This is why those who place the value on hustling and grinding to accomplish success without God’s leading, may find that they are more willing to compromise their character to sustain the success that ensued. God doesn’t want us to build his promises outside of him.
He doesn’t want us worn out and tired from constantly doing and never experiencing the joy of being. So, he calls us to rest. It takes trust and faith in God to do this–to remove our hands from our work and still see it prosper. God knows what he is doing. The margin created during my obedience to God in coming away resting and seeking God has given me the capacity to handle a more stressful time at work, the loss of a close loved one, and a minor surgery. I did not know I would need the additional margin, but God knew.
You see God values us outside of the work we believe he’s given us to do. He values us as his precious sons and daughters. He wants us to rest and enjoy this life he’s given us. This also allows us to enjoy him—God himself. In the slowing down and resting—we notice the promises of God he has fulfilled. We become more patient, thankful, and less stressed. We also become more open to God bringing to pass the things he’s promised—instead of us trying to produce them ourselves.
I would love to encourage you all to stir up your prayer life even more during a time of slowing down to rest. God will put his word in your mouth in prayer so you can prophesy over yourself, your situation, and your family. Write down what God shows you. Allow God to use this time to build you because you matter beyond the hustle and the grind. When it is time for you to return to your work—you’ll have God’s grace and strength to go with you.
A book I am listening to now via audiobook is “God Where Are You?” by John Bevere. It shares about God’s process before he shifts us to our next. This is where I am right now and many of us are within the body of Christ. We can build ourselves up by listening to the Word of God in this book.
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