Time to Take Action?
‘The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.” Lamentations 3:25
“I will tell you what to do when it’s time to tell you what I want you to do.” When the Lord speaks to our hearts, He is so direct, isn’t He? He makes Himself so plain. So clear. One morning I sought the Lord. I wanted to know what He wanted me to do. So He told me.
“You don’t need to know right now,” He essentially told me next.
But wait. God. God? I should know now, shouldn’t I? Then I could be prepared. Then I could take action. Then I could feel not stuck. Not that I was stuck. I didn’t feel like I was stuck. Just slowed down. Not moving as fast as I used to. Which was good. Because God had brought me into a season of rest. Of slowing down. Of taking care of myself, of His temple in which His Spirit resides, in a way I had long needed. Of learning more than ever how to seek His face and be sensitive to His Holy Spirit, to hear Him, and to yield myself to Him in love and obedience. But not to know? To not have a zillion ideas of where I would go, what I would do, when I would need to do this and that, to not take action? Seriously? Yup.
God had spoken to my heart. Now silence. Abraham in obedience to God went without knowing where he would go. Scary, yes, but so exciting. Movement. Jonah was given an assignment and told to go. He didn’t. Not right away. He went the other way. But still, he went. Action. Movement. Moses led the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt. He went. Mighty major movement. The apostles were invited to follow Jesus. They went. Ruth went with Naomi. Joshua and Caleb went out to spy the land. Paul went over and again. Action, action, action. God, what do you want me to do? Shouldn’t I take action? We live in such an action-packed world, don’t we? Shouldn’t I be constantly in motion? Moving. Go. Go.
We shouldn’t assume God always wants us to move, to get up and go make a change, to go do something big, or small, every moment, all the time. Sometimes God wants us simply to be still and worship Him. To love Him. For there is nothing more important than loving God. Resting in His presence. Trusting in Him. Soaking in His love. Bathing in His mercy. Waiting on Him. Cleaving to Him. Learning of Jesus. Sitting at Jesus’ feet. Being in fellowship with Christ. Worshiping. So when we go, we go with Him, in Him, through Him, for Him. How often do we rush off in the flesh, led by our me-me-me will, puffed up with our fleshly gotta-do-this-now agendas, convincing ourselves it’s God’s will or not caring about His will at all? We don’t need to know the future. God does. We don’t need to rush ahead. Sometimes we need to be still in His presence. Steadfastly loving Him as we wait for Him, wait on Him, in sweet love and adoration.