Sunday, August 24, 2008

You do not have because you do not ask God. James 4:2b

All I wanted was a Diet Coke. It had already been a long work day and the remaining hours stretched out ahead of me like an exhausting desert walk. I was parched, body and soul. If I could just get a cold drink with a little caffeine to refresh me, I was sure I would perk up enough to make it to the end of that long, dry day.

As I approached the red vending machine, I could hear the machine humming and knew the drinks inside were wonderfully cold. I could almost taste the refreshing liquid going down my throat as I inserted my dollar into the slot. It was pulled in and then spit right back out. In that instant, that red vending machine became my adversary. I tried again. Pulled in…spit out. I damped the edges of the dollar and inserted it. Same result. I tried again and again using every trick I knew. First I inserted one end, then the other. I inserted it with Washington’s face up, then with it down. I tried at least seven or eight times. Nothing doing. The machine didn’t show the slightest inclination of taking that dollar bill.

Finally, after trying everything I knew, I felt my shoulders slump as I stood in front of the victorious, red machine. I let out a deep sigh and I prayed, “God, I am so tired. All I want is a Diet Coke.” Knowing God answers prayers, I tried the dollar one more time. You guessed it. The dollar was pulled in and stayed in. After pushing the button for the Diet Coke, I heard the much anticipated sound of the can cascading to the bottom of the shoot and crashing in the tray where I could retrieve it. At last, I had the refreshment I needed.

It was not in the much desired Diet Coke that I found my refreshment, though. No cold beverage could refresh and revive me like the evidence of the presence and provision of our Father. He withheld what I wanted until I came to the end of my own efforts and asked for it. He then graciously gave me exactly what I wanted and what he knew I needed. I wanted the Diet Coke. I needed to be drawn to my Father in an experience of his love and grace.

James 4:2b says that we don’t have because we don’t ask God. This is not a power play on the part of a tyrant, but a loving withholding for the purpose of the greater gift of being drawn into relationship with him and experiencing his love and grace. Often we hesitate to ask God for something for ourselves or we get caught up in our own efforts and forget that he stands ready to answer our prayers. What gifts of love and grace we miss when we do not take even our smallest requests to him!

Is there something you are hesitating to ask God for right now? Is there something you’ve not asked God for because you are caught up in trying to make it happen all with your own effort? Turn to him now. Ask. Experience his love and grace.

Prayer
Father God, I confess that I often forget or hesitate to take my requests to you. I try to gain what I want by my own efforts and often it is only when I am defeated that I turn to you. Help me, Father, take all my requests to you. Thank you for loving me enough to withhold what I want in order to give me the greater gift of the experience of your love and grace. In Jesus’ precious name. Amen.

Sharing our journey
Do you have an example to share of God’s presence and provision in the seemingly small stuff in your life?
Have you had an experience where God withheld something you wanted until you asked him for it? What did you learn about God?

Friday, August 15, 2008

Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10

Welcome to A Quiet Stop on the Journey. I am glad you’re here. My prayer is that this blog can be a place where we can come to slow down, exhale and draw near to God together.

We need quiet stops along this every day Christian journey. I know I do. I’m constantly doing several things at once and there is always some kind of noise overriding it all even if it is just the noise from my own thinking as I try to keep all the plates in my life spinning. I long for stillness and quiet, yet they are far too rare for me. I suspect you feel the same way, at least some of the time.

I hear our Father’s loving heart in his call to us to "Be still and know that I am God." and I long to answer by quieting my heart and stilling my mind from their relentless pace. I need this. I need to just be still and know God. It’s the deep desire of my heart and yet the tyranny of the urgent often rules my day and crowds out the very stillness and quiet with God that I long for most.

As with Elijah when he was running from Jezebel[1], it is in the stillness that we are most likely to hear God’s gentle whisper. The winds, earthquakes, and fires of our lives threaten to send our carefully orchestrated spinning plates crashing to the ground so they are much more likely to command our attention. It is difficult to make time for stillness and quiet in the face of all the demands on us. Our loving Father knows this for he has called us to this time and place. Yet just as he calls us to this place that encourages and even honors busyness, he also calls us to a place of stillness so we can know him as God. What an invitation this is! We are invited to turn our spinning plates over to him and step into the stillness for which we long. In this stillness, we are invited to know our awesome Father, the one who keeps the entire universe spinning perfectly.

I commit here and now to slowing down the pace of my life and spending more time “being” with God and not so much time “doing.” I can only do this through the grace of God and in his strength. I know this is his desire even more than it is mine and I cannot wait to see what he has in store for us!

Will you join me here on this journey? Perhaps you are struggling with busyness too or maybe you have made great strides in slowing down and being still before God and can offer suggestions and encouragement to others. Either way, I hope you will come along with me and share your comments as we journey together as children of our loving God.




[1] 1 Kings 19