"I was glad when they said to me, 'Let us go to the house of the Lord!'" Psalm 122:1
I don't spend enough time being aware of God's presence. In fact, I probably spend under 5% of my waking day enjoying the fact that my maker, my provider, my savior, my friend, and the lover of my soul is waiting to spend one on one time with me. Imagine if I spent that little time with my computer or my phone! I'd never get anything done! Imagine if I spent that much waking time with my wife! Our marriage would be falling apart! Imagine if I spent that little time doing chores around the house! Our place would be a mess! And yet somewhere inside of me is the idea that I can get by with spending such a tiny amount of my day with Jesus and have him still be my Lord. I just won't happen. Don't hear me wrong, this isn't about duty or holy obligation. This has nothing to do with religious activity. It is nothing less than a matter of life and death. The fact is that my soul is wasting away without it's source. My heart is not beating without its first love. My being is starving without its bread of life. I cannot live without practicing his presence. It would be one thing if being in the presence of my God was virtually impossible for me. On Mount Saini, Moses had to hide his face from the Lord and only the high priest could enter the holiest place where God's presence dwelt. Elijah waited in the cleft of the mountain for the Lord to pass by for just a moment. The Psalmist longs to make the journey to experience God's presence at the Temple for a short pilgrimage. Experiencing the actual presence of the Almighty has historically been a rare and dangerous endeavor, something that most people would never undergo. But this is not the case for me. Because of Jesus Christ, my God is constantly accessible. I can sit with him, talk with him, listen to him, and be held by him all of the time. I have no excuse. He is more available than my computer or phone, more ready to listen than my friends or family, more patient and compassionate than even my wife. But he gets 5%.
"Oh God, you are here with me now. You are always available in your infinite love for me. I don't want to close my awareness off to you anymore. I want to be with you now and stay with you. For I am alive in your midst. Life is but a fleeting longing when I ignore your presence. I will draw near to you now..."
Ray, this is a great post! I have been pondering on this topic as well. Between working full time and having a husband and going to school and making time for friends and family I find that He only gets 5%, and my last 5% at that! So my weak excuse of making one on one time with God isn't even giving him my whole attention and energy. I knew something had to start changing. So I'm taking steps...small steps, but steps that will hopefully turn into leaps and bounds. Instead of plopping down on the couch for the last 30 minutes of my day before bed time, I take those minutes to open my bible and read, or pray aloud to God or reflect on my day and think about when I felt his presence. And just taking small steps such as these has made me feel that much closer and connected to God.
ReplyDeleteLindsay Wilson
Lindsay,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing. I've experienced the amazing potential of walking with Him in constant communion. It is life. I'm learning that a time set apart to be with Christ is only the beginning. I once tried to set a part more and more moments to meet in prayer with my Lord and found that I was still compartmentalizing my faith. At some point, we learn to take that moment of communion with us into our day, in every situation. Then, the moments of "devotion" and "quite time" are simply one type of fellowship with God among many. It is certainly a practice and discipline to experience God in daily life, but that is our call and our goal.