It’s the end of another busy day, and I’m sitting here in the office staring at my computer screen with the knowledge that I’m supposed to be writing something meaningful to help you, dear reader, navigate this week with a bit more peace and hutzpah. It’s not so much that I have nothing to say – the words are there, the heart is there, but that “umph” to put the two together in a meaningful way just seems to be eluding me at this point…
Musical artist Aaron Shust talks about experiencing something similar as he sat down to write songs for his new album a few years back. Stumped and completely uninspired, all he could manage to scribble down were these words, a prayer of desperation – “Give me words to speak; don’t let my sprit sleep, ‘cause I can’t think of anything worth saying; and I know that I owe you my life!” As you may know, that very prayer became a song on the album!
There are two sides to this coin, as I see it. On the one hand, we as Christians tend to be “speechless” when we aren’t being “spoken to.” This is usually the situation when we’re missing out on quiet times with God – it’s just amazing what that time, set apart for Him, does for us, despite how we perceive the experience. We can read a chapter in our Bibles and have it make no sense to us, and still, God will bless our minds and hearts and spirits because He promises that “…my word that goes out from my mouth… will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). The Holy Spirit fills us when we give Him the chance to, and it’s only when we’re full that we can be poured out for the benefit of others. Empty pitchers quench no thirst.
The “other side” of the coin is when we pray, when we read, when we wait for God to use us, and still, He seems so distant… and we wonder, “What are you doing with me?” These are the times when our options become mercifully simple. We stop trying to say something and we A). “Be still and know He is God” – we decide to stop asking questions and just praise Him who is Holy and Just and Sovereign, and/ or B), we “Wait upon the Lord” – we put our hope in Him and wait for His answer, and in the meantime trust His promise to renew our strength. Be still. Wait. Strength is on it’s way.
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