A Heart to Hear
There are times when the only thing God wants from us is stillness. Have you ever struggled to calm a child in distress and known the wonder in that moment when the child is finally still, just resting her head on your shoulder? You feel the weight of the little body settling down and resting in your arms, fully trusting the security of your embrace. You breathe in the peace, so thankful for this moment of rest. Our Abba Father longs for those moments with us. He desires rest for our souls. He wants us to get to that place where we aren't doing anything except resting in His arms, completely trusting the safety of His embrace. For most of us, springing into action is way more comfortable than waiting on God. Sunday morning, I woke to the sounds of my little girls in the kitchen, getting themselves a bowl of cereal. As I heard the cabinet door slam, I remembered that I had stuffed three big bottles of soda onto the top shelf of the fridge to chill for our picnic at the lake. When they tried to get the milk down, they were going to have a major problem! I jumped out of bed, and raced downstairs only to find they had gotten to the milk just fine. I then proceeded to begin putting everything back and somehow managed to drop the nearly full jug of milk from the top shelf of the fridge, creating an explosion of milk that saturated my hair, my robe, the rug, and coating the inside of the fridge. Glory! No, actually that wasn't my first thought. As I set about undoing the enormous mess I had created, I kept thinking that if I had just stayed in bed, everything would have been fine. My leap into action had caused my imagined, worst-case scenario to become a reality. As I started the washing machine, I could hear the still, small voice of the Lord talking to my heart, encouraging me to learn from what had just happened. I needed to know that leaping into action apart from His Holy Spirit's leading only causes a bigger problem than the one I'm trying to fix. I also knew He was talking about things much more critical than spilled milk. Sometimes we face issues that require us to wait on the Lord. There were many times when the Lord sent the Israelites out to fight their enemies head-on, but there were also times when He said, "Stand still and see what I am going to do for you."
That is where I am today: waiting on the Lord to do what only He can do, and trusting Him for the outcome. Choosing to rest in Him is a battle in itself. By an act of my will, I have laid all my burdens at His feet and now I am choosing to rest my head on His shoulder and listen quietly to His heartbeat. He is my Abba Father and He is all I need.
"But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother is my soul within me...Put your hope in the LORD both now and forevermore." Psalm 131:2-3
Lord, please give us a heart to hear you.
~~Jennifer Davis
