Bending Down
Please listen to the song above before you read. You owe it to yourself to take a few minutes. You won't regret it. Go ahead. You need to hear the lyrics to understand my point.
As I sit here listening to the lyrics of this song, this anthem, this cry of praise, I am quieted in my spirit. There are some key phrases and words used in this song that absolutely still me. If you have been to my blog before, you are aware that music is my love language. I can place my hand on my chest, close my eyes, and just escape to that place. In that place, He meets me there. It is intimate and personal and it is real. I love real.
Right now, the world is waiting, watching, and looking to media outlets for updates and guidance in regard to the obvious. The world is in a state of worry, panic, and quickly headed toward pandemonium. What about you? Are you fearful or confident in God's hand of control in what happens? For a few minutes, let's you and me talk about something else that is amazingly refreshing. Will you go with me for a little while? Come on, let's imagine we are walking along at the most beautiful place. We are walking slowly, and there is even soft music in the background. It is totally, blissful. Nothing else is on your mind. No worries, no cares, and nothing else matters.
We all have an agenda. Schedules, calendars, motives, husbands, children, bills, laundry, housework, kids activities, errands, therapies, doctor appointments, etc. Are these the things that have been driving you lately? We all get consumed at times with the grind of daily life. It is crazy, isn't it? We never sat down as teenagers and daydreamed about all of the things our moms did that we couldn't wait to one day step into. No, we daydreamed about the man, the myths, and the mysticism of being a Mrs. Being a Mrs. is one of the best things about this season of my life. Being a mom means that I am the CEO of a small company right here at home. Another agenda I place high importance on. Currently this CEO has 4 rolls of toilet paper that I am still freely handing out. When it runs out I will be calling on some local sisters to share. So get ready for that text ladies!
We are still walking, you and me.
I have some questions. I love to ask questions. Not because I like to diagnose or come up with a remedy for the cure. I think I ask questions because sometimes in my life it has been the perspective of someone else that has caused me to have an Aha! moment. What has been on your mind lately? Has it been all of the things you need to go buy in the event that stores close? Has it been the bills that you have no clue how you will pay this month? Has it been the loved one that is in distress that you want to bail out, but you know God is at work and all you have been called to do is pray for them? Where has your mind been?
When was the last time you spoke to God? Let's be real. Pretty please? Sometimes prayer can feel like work. I hear it all the time. In many seasons I have felt it myself. What has your conversation with God been like this past week? Are you going through the motions? Are you just asking God to turn that cheeseburger into a carrot on the way down? Are you just asking Him to keep you safe from the sickness that is all around? Have you been seeking anything from God at all? I'm certain someone will read this who has no clue how to pray or even what to say. That's okay. It's about a relationship, not religion.
Do you remember your best friend? That friend you confided in about the most joyful of situations, and the most breath taking of bad things that have happened in your life? Do you remember that friend that you called that one time, and you couldn't even speak, all you could do was be on the other end of the line? In that moment they responded by saying, "it's okay, I'm here." When you got yourself together, you were able to get off the phone and breathe again. What about that time when you were so scared in a situation. Fear crippled you. You talked to that best friend again and somehow it all seemed manageable, again.
What does your mind think about, when it is free to think about whatever it will? In those moments when you find yourself still, staring out of the window of the car as you journey? Where is your mind? Are you drowning? Are you overcome by doubt and fear of the day? Is the thought of facing the day crippling? I know those feelings. I have been there. Are you hiding? Hiding is a funny concept. All that is hidden will be found in time though. Keep that in mind. Are you ashamed? Embarrassed? Addicted? Alone? Can you feel an anxiety inside you even now as you read?
Remember, you and me- we are on a walk in the most beautiful place.
Questions, lot's of questions. I ask myself questions all the time. I remember sitting with a dear sister friend not too long ago, and she was in a peculiar season. In her season, I had questions. I remember asking if she remembered where it all began, what brought it on, and what we could do to turn this tide in her life. I met the most beautifully, helpless response. "Just Pray." Following that conversation I began looking for small victories in her life and in mine. Victories in my life, victories in the lives of those I love. I'm learning to see even the smallest of victories as a huge deal! Just...Pray. Doesn't it feel helpless to know that all you can do is just pray about something that needs to be addressed, immediately addressed!? All I wanted for my sweet friend was for the storm to be over. I wanted her to be a full personality in the room once more. I wanted to walk in and know that she was there. Nothing else.
Today, some of you reading are complete strangers, but some of you I know well. I feel such an unction to come back to what really matters. What do we want most? Is it Jesus? Is it His attention? Is it for the storm to be over? Nothing else matters today, not the news, not the virus, not the bills, not the shortcomings in your life, not even the gross sin that continues to cripple and separate you from the God of the universe. All that matters is Jesus. Nothing else matters. Nothing else will do. Do you remember now? He is enough.
In this time of an economic slowdown, kids being out of school, stores closing early- we have been given an opportunity. The stage is being set. The table has been prepared. You and I have been given a gift in this time of inconvenience. Margin. We have been given extra room. Time. Extra time to do the things that have been piling up because we are too busy to otherwise do those things.
What really matters in your life? More questions. I hear people say all the time that they just don't have time to read the Bible. They don't have time to stop living and get away from the vehicle, the husband, the kids, and just talk to The Father. Aren't you thankful that God heard the unsaid cry of your heart, and slowed down the world with a virus so that you would have time to sit at His feet and be caught up in Him? Have you ever thought about it like that before? God has allowed the virus for someone. He never allows something like this to come without being intentional. What if He allowed it for no one else other than...you.
That is who God is, you know? He sees the one who struggles even when we don't see it. He sees the one who can't find their way. He sees the one who doesn't quite know how to let go of the past and let Him have it. He sees it all. He is The Hound of Heaven. He is in an unhurried pursuit. His sights are set, and He will have whom He desires. Have you gotten away from what really matters? More questions. Maybe you haven't been able to get caught up in a moment with God lately or ever. The world is slowing down by the moment. Why not today? What is it that you seek? Is it blessing? Is it healing? Is it just Him? Just pray. You, alone, in a room that feels so full of all that is unsaid- God is waiting to meet you there. God knows all and sees all. You are not a mystery to your Father. And when the dam breaks, the hiding stops. He has the plan that He intended from the start. You don't have to understand it. Run to the Father. No reason to wait. Again, and again- run to the Father.
Because He bends down to listen I will pray as long as I have breath. -Psalm 116:2
Have you ever had to ask someone to repeat them self because you didn't hear them clearly speak? Maybe you bent down, leaned in closer. You wanted to hear what they were saying. Psalm 116 isn't saying that God didn't hear us. It says that God loves us so intently that He bends down, leans in, inclines His ear toward us every time we speak. He hears us and he attends to us. Our needs never go unmet. And yet I wonder, how many times have we complained that we were in need, or wondered where God was in the middle of the storm because we couldn't hear Him speak. More...questions.
Not only has He been there while you were questioning Him, crying out to Him, wondering where He was; He was bent down listening very closely to what you had to say. We serve a God who wants to talk with us, hear from us, and walk with us. Not because we are worthy, but because He is. He is faithful. God sees your condition. He knows the root of the problem and what it will take to fix it.
He's the God who stays. Bent down, in position to hear you. He owes you nothing, yet He cannot wait to respond to your call.
In 2 Chronicles 7:14, the Bible says that if we humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, turn from our ways that go against God's desire for us- THEN, He will hear from heaven, forgive our sins, AND heal our land. It always comes down to "if we, then He." What if this is the time God has so lovingly appointed for repentance? It is in His mercy that He sets up these road blocks for us. He slows us down for a purpose. If this was for one person, He would still do it. Jesus died and we don't know the specifics of for whom He died, but we know it wasn't for nobody.
Last question. Have you come to the end of yourself? Can you look back at all of the reckless living, and see where God has kept you, sustained you, and allowed you to keep going? That is His mercy on display. His grace has kept you because He has His sights set on you. There is no length too great for God to go to in seeking the safe return of His children. He is bent down. His ear is ever at the ready to hear you. Will you cry out today? Maybe it's in repentance for sin, maybe it's in renouncing that you are in control. Remember that best friend, can that be Jesus today? Can He be the comfort you need? Can He be the thing you crave? Can He be the one you call or run to? Can He be enough? Come back to what really matters. Our hearts have been in His sight long before our first breath. If you are the one God is pursuing in this chaotic time where all we can talk about is the virus...let me just say- wow. How loved are you that God would slow everything down so that He is all that you can see? That is love. Jesus died so that God would be all that we could see.
In my friends time of distress I wanted it to be over. But, God was so very present in her life. He was bent down. He was near. His ear was inclined unto her. He held her very close on the hardest of days. He was teaching and testing her faith. She ran to the Father. And she found Him there.
Just pray. Run to the Father. He is bent down.
