I had a very pleasant walk home this evening...I felt very peaceful. And it is moments like these that God seems to "speak" or convey ideas to me very strongly. When my mind is clear of distractions and with peace and quiet, this is when I find I am most receptively tuned into God's radio - a broadcast which is always there broadcasting but often we are too distracted or perturbed by our daily activities in the world to tune in!
I find this idea perfectly illustrated by (Psalm 46:10) "Be still and know that I am God"
which came to me over and over one time this year when I was totally stressing out and panicked at a demanding time of my studies...this one line definitely gave me strength and very quickly restored that beautiful "peace of God which transcends all understanding." :) (Philippians 4:7)
Earlier this week I was talking to a christian acquaintance who has had faith for well over 15 years and I was surprised that for the last few years he no longers prays or reads the bible and he doesn't go to church either -the connection or relationship had obviously become very distant...it reminded me of a radio broadcast mired by static so the message could not be deciphered. It just made me want to reiterate the importance of always spending some regular quiet time to connect with God through prayer and bible reading, daily if possible.
It's easy for me to be critical when I have only run a short race so far...and actually it's not about how enthusiastic you are today...it is all about being able to FINISH the race well and I admire all the Christians who have stayed the course, as I have met probably even more fallen away and lacklustre pick and choose "Christians" than even unbelievers perhaps, which is quite disturbing, but understandable:
"For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few." (Matthew 7:14)
So actually one thing I learnt so far on this journey is that the term "Christian" alone in society these days is not particularly meaningful without some explanation and clarification of what that term means to the person claiming it.
ANYWAY I digress. Basically while I was walking home the idea that came very strongly to me is how much God loves us and cares for us. Even though it is easy to doubt sometimes when bad things happen and we wonder why he allows them to happen...
Recently I had to walk away from something that I had invested my ENTIRE EVERYTHING and last 7 years in, which was quite hard for me and took me a long time to get the courage to finally step away. And the fact I did finally pull the plug was initially more a gut reaction of fear of God and being disobedient, than by wanting to please God and do according to His Will for me, I am ashamed to admit.
So since this happened quite recently I still had not completely processed it all yet. But tonight it was very clear that God pulled me away from this 7 year labour of love of sorts because he loves and cares for me like a protective father...he wants what is best for me and pulling me away was actually keeping me safe and away from danger. This was so clear to me tonight. So I am so thankful.
And now I learnt for myself that next time God closes the door on something, it is helpful to reframe disappointment by remembering a) He knows what's best for us better than what we or anybody else does because he knows the BIG PICTURE and knows us better than we even know ourselves and, b) when one door closes, this means another can open. And perhaps there is something even better in store...anyway, now I am walking HIS Way, I definitely have this sense of quiet *confidence* about my future like I have never felt before when I was relying on my own and others' worldly or practical human mind leadings :)
No comments:
Post a Comment