Joyce Meyer is quoted as saying “go to the throne, not the phone.” Great advice that I am finding challenging to follow in my current struggles. Calling a friend or family member right now would be so easy and would help me to feel better . . . for a little while.
But I think God wants me to work these issues out in a party of two. Just me and God in a wrestling match where I don’t know the moves and I don’t know what he wants from me. But I am trying SO HARD to figure it out. This involves a lot of prayer, reading (both the Bible and other books), and spending silent time alone (not my favorite thing). Time without the distractions of phone conversations, television, radio or social media.
Proverbs 3:6-7 tells us to “Trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding. In all our ways we are to acknowledge him and he will make our paths straight.” My paths seem to have no direction right now. Not in the workplace. Not with my ministry and not in my personal life. God feels silent and distant right now as I cry out to him. Although I do feel him whispering to me “wait.” Which is an uncomfortable place to be.
I have said before that I did not want to live under the tyranny of an unexamined life. Examining it is way harder than I thought it would be! So often we are too busy to really think about the choices we are making or the life we are living. Choices made at the speed of life so often determine the life we live. When we should be creating a life lived out of deliberate reflection, prayer and thought.
Lysa TerKeurst in her brilliant book, The Best Yes: Making Wise Decisions in the Midst of Endless Demands, puts it this way – The decisions you make determine the schedule you keep. The schedule you keep determines the life you live. And how you live your life determines how you spend your soul.”
Part of the soul searching I am doing right now involves a more balanced prayer life. Many years ago I learned the acronym ACTS for when we pray:
Adoration – praise God and worship him for who he is and what he does
Confession – admit your mistakes, flaws and sins to God and ask for forgiveness
Thanksgiving – thank God for specific things he has done
Supplication – ask for help for yourself and others
Somewhere along the way it has become a lot more about thanksgiving and supplication and less about adoration & confession for me.
Jeremiah 29:12-13 says, “Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
Precious Father – May we search for you with all our heart. Please help us to create a life lived out of deliberate reflection, prayer and thought. May we come to the throne instead of the phone as our first response to all that happens in our lives. Amen.