Don't Fall Asleep



Be quiet!  No I'm not mad at you.  I'm actually looking out for you, trying to help.  Lord knows I need to be quiet more.  This isn't about being more ears than mouth - although that is a good idea too!  

It is really hard for us to quiet our minds.  We are so used to the stimulation all around us and nowadays the powerful computers we all carry around, occasionally to make phone calls, makes it even more difficult to stop... and.... just... listen...  I wonder if that moment of silence in church is treasured by some and is torture for others?  I treasure it and wish it was longer.  Probably because I have trouble doing it by myself.

I just read an article that a friend of ours wrote about going through radiation treatment.   Her nurse told her to "lay heavy" in the machine that rotated her around and applied the radiation.  Each of the 30 days she did this became special to her in a strange way.  She was finally able to lay down, forget her to-do list, and be still before Jesus.  In Psalm 46:10, God invites us to "Be still, and know that I am God" (NIV).  Easier said than done. I've experienced this occasionally when traveling.  Flying, especially in the past before we had our many forms of video entertainment, gave you an opportunity to just think and pray and be quiet when you were tired of reading or talking (definitely pre-COVID) to the person next to you.  Something about the drone of the engines and not having anything else to do allows me to just... be... still.  Sure enough, in these moments I start to listen and hear what God has been placing on my heart.

The first step is to be intentional about this quest.  Don't think you can just wing it because it seems "easy".  I mean how hard can it be to just be quiet?  Saying "Maranatha... maranatha... maranatha"  may be the ticket for you.  Somehow you need to stop thinking or even praying to allow yourself to just listen.  When Jesus said "He who has ears, let him hear." Matthew 11:15, he was saying that most of us don't hear despite our ears!  Turn off your phone, go into your closet or kneel at the bed in the other room and be still, lay heavy, and know that he is God.  Oh, and don't fall asleep :)


Adam Zakarian

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Cry of Our Souls

Image
Psalm 42:1-2,5-8,11   As the deer pants for flowing streams,      so my soul longs for you, O God.   We know what thirst for water feels like. It is an unmistakable sensation. When we experience thirst, it may be because we missed earlier cues to hydrate. Now our body, already becoming dehydrated, has sent us a more obvious signal, an uncomfortable cue, one we will certainly recognize and act on.   But do we recognize when our soul thirsts for God?   My soul thirsts for God,      for the living God. Parenting manuals will tell us that when a baby cries it is important to consider the sound of the cry. They tell us that careful observation will help us to distinguish between a cry of hunger and a cry of pain, between the cry of a sleepy baby and the cry of a baby who is merely bored and in need of stimulation. For if we offer our infants milk every time they fuss, we are in danger of training them to seek food every time they feel discomfort; we risk confusing them, comp
Read more

Dinner Conversations

Image
Every night at the dinner table, our family takes turns telling each other what we’re thankful for from the day. It never fails that one of our kids shares that they’re thankful for a good dinner, even if they struggled to get all of it down. While the practice can seem mundane and routine, our hope is that one day, the practice of gratitude that we’ve engrained in them (and ourselves) will help us on the days where it seems the world has nothing in it for which to be grateful. Maybe we can consider it practice for those coming moments of despair-that there is still some blessing that deserves our gratitude. Isn’t that what Jesus calls us to do? We are called in so many ways to reflect on the abundant blessings of God. Consider this passage from 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18:     Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances,  for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.   This directive is strong-no matter what is happening-be joyful, pray, give thanks. I think we
Read more