Proverbs 3:5-6

“Trust in and rely confidently on the Lord with all your heart. And do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know and acknowledge and recognize Him, and He will make your paths straight and smooth [removing obstacles that block your way].”

When we go through life, particularly when things are stressful and we find ourselves facing dark places, there is a temptation to rush to solve things. To interfere. To forget to ask God. To not be willing to wait. But that can be counter productive.

Trusting in and relying on God, with the confidence that He has a plan and will bring it to fruition, is really hard. We think we can fix this easily. It is not that big a deal, but when it goes pear shaped, as it tends to do without God’s input, it is a big deal. God will fix the mess we have created. It will not be an easy process. It will involve much pain that could have been avoided if we had just waited.

We may for a while be chastened and wait patiently for God, acting only when He directs us. Then we will forget and will trust our on insights and understanding. We will fail to acknowledge God by not even asking Him for advice. And we will be back in that dark place waiting for God to intervene. Chastened, we will humbly learn His lessons. Then we will dust ourselves off and try again.

Each time we fail we will learn a little more. Each time we will learn to trust God more and to trust our own actions less.

God is so patient! It must be frustrating for Him when we fail time and time again. Yet He still loves us. He still gathers us in His arms and comforts us. And He still expects us to learn our lesson. He knows better than us how to do things. He knows when we fail to listen to Him we will be exposed to more pain. And somewhere in all this mess we do start to learn. We do start to trust.

Be open to His learning. Learn to wait. Learn to let go of your own insights and understandings. Learn to acknowledge Him and recognise Him and trust that He knows the best response, the best decision, the best timing.

Trust God and wait. Learn to sit with the uncertainly of waiting. And in that uncertainty you will find trust in God and His reliability and His promises.

Psalm 98
That was a regular refrain of my childhood. All the songs we were taught in Sunday School, the choruses we sang in the youth service. The bumper stickers. This was something that was drummed into me as a child.
Yet when I look around, I wonder how many followers of Jesus really believe that. Do they sit in wonder and awe at God’s greatness. Or do they just recite rote phrases that have long since become too familiar to even think about.
Today I was the scribe at an Eisteddfod. One of the sections involved children under 10 reciting words they had written. In one, the child lay down on the stage and looked up at imaginary clouds and spoke of how her teacher told the class to go outside, lie on the ground and look up at the sky, then write about what they could see. The girl reciting this story said she could see nothing. There were just clouds in the sky. So she went to the teacher and told her that. The teacher told her to go back outside and look again. To look for the wonderful things she could see because there was more there than clouds. So the little went back and looked up at the sky and then she saw it. Castles with towering turrets. Mighty horses galloping. A ship in full sail. A dog. She was amazed.
This little girl’s experience reminded me of the wonder with which children, left to explore their imaginations, see in the world around them. They see this while adults have mostly ceased to see such glory.
We as adults can still see the wonder in the world. We just get so caught up in the busyness of life and the demands of work and family and other responsibilities, that we forget to take those moments to see the wonder. To remember that God is great.
Here is a challenge for you. Some time over the next few days stop and look up at the sky. If there are clouds in it, look at the patterns they make. Look at the sunrise or sunset and marvel at the colours the clouds take on. If there are no clouds then sit by some water and watch the water flowing. See the ripples spreading out in the water and rebounding on and on. Take the time to see that God is great and remember the wonder of His creation.
 

May we give God the space to do what He can only accomplish in our stillness.

May we heed His call to be still.

May we welcome rest and lean into the holiness of slow.

There is a lot of talk today encouraging people to be whatever they want to be and to teach their children that same thing. There is a lot of counter talk pointing out the danger of those beliefs because we can’t all be rocket scientists, or doctors, or pilots.
The truth of life lies somewhere in between. We don’t have to accept our lot in life. We can aspire to do better. We may have to achieve our dreams in a more round about way, but achieve them we may.
It is said that our dreams are God planting the idea of what is possible in our lives with the gifts He has given us. Of course sometimes we have yearnings to do something but misinterpret how to put those yearnings into practice. We may believe our gift of public speaking means we are to be speech maker, when in fact that gift is meant to be used as an inspiring teacher.
One thing I have observed in myself and other people is the way we have dreams but don’t believe we can achieve them. I once read a blog about the need to ask for help with our dreams, not as one unworthy but as one entrusted and empowered by God to achieve His will. To have the confidence in God that He will give us what we need when we need it.
This raises another problem. God’s will. So often we are told to pray in God’s will and that we have to know His will. But how do we know it? There are many who say the answer is in the Bible, or God will tell you, or others will give you God’s message. They are all valid ways to identify God’s will, but they do not always work. Sometimes God’s will is more obscure than that. We have to wait. Sometimes we have to step out in faith and go ahead with that plan we believe is His will. Sometimes the plan fails and we think that is because we failed to follow God’s will, but my life experience has shown me that sometimes part of His will involves saying No. Involves us coming to dead ends where we have to wait or change direction. When He says no we are still following His plan, but there may be something we need to learn. Or we may need to wait on another person to be ready, or God may have plans for us in all those apparent dead ends that further His kingdom. We don’t know.
In counselling we often talk about the liminal space between things. There are liminal spaces everywhere. There are liminal spaces between a terrible event and moving on. Or a disappointment and stepping back into life. That space is a trackless wilderness where we have much to learn but no map to show us the way out until God gives it to us. There are liminal spaces between our thoughts. Those are the spaces where we sit and wait for God. One practice I have found helpful when sitting quietly in that space waiting for God is to release my attachment to a particular outcome and acknowledge God’s direction for my life.
It is in the stillness of the liminal space that we can wait. It is actually a very relaxing place to be. A place to recharge our batteries. To build our faith. To learn to trust. To empower us to step out in faith.