God recommends that we spend some time sitting alone
with Him in silence (Lamentations 3:28). This is totally foreign to our normal
daily schedule, and is hard to do at first.
We so often rush
through life meeting deadlines and using up every ounce of human effort we
possess. We slug caffeine to wake us up, and then rely on pills
to quell the headaches produced by our hectic lifestyle and to put us to sleep
at night.
We
depend on self-effort to deal with whatever life throws at us, mistakenly thinking
that nothing will ever get done if we do not do it our self.
We
forget that God does not leave us abandoned in this world. He does not call us to work for Him,
but rather for us to allow Him to work in and through us.
When we sit alone, we are never lonely as long as
the Spirit of God resides within our spirit. When we craft deliberate times
during our day to be alone - "all-one"- with the Lord, He readily meets
us right where we are.
We are united with Him, engulfed by Him and filled
through all of our being with Him (Ephesians 3:16-19, Amplified Bible). We can
be one with God during every facet of our day.
It is easy to be alone with Him while walking on
the sunny beach listening to the lulling
cadenced of the swishing surf and the call of gulls floating on the breeze.
However,
we can also be alone with God while driving in rush hour traffic commuting to
and from work, and also as we move through the routine of our daily life.
God
is always within us, ready to commune with us whenever we give Him the chance. All it takes is for us to silence the cacophony within and without; and
then to focus all of our attention on His Spirit in us.
Prayer:
Father God, help us to enter that quiet place
within our spirit all throughout the day, no matter what responsibilities claim
our time, so that we can focus on You and enjoy fellowship with You. We do not
need to go into our prayer closet and remain there all day. We simply enter our
spirit and walk through life listening to Your wisdom and to the direction of
Your Spirit.
Our soul waits silently for You, because You are
the source of all of our peace and joy. Our soul
finds rest only in You; and our salvation comes from You. We thank You for
saving us in spirit, soul and body, and we appreciate all of Your love and care
for our every need. We even thank You when You do not speak to us, because it
reminds us that You love to spend times of companionable silence with us.
Thought
for the Day:
The
essential ingredient for growing more intimate with Christ is to spend silent
times alone with Him throughout our day.
