“Depend on the Lord and His strength; always go to Him for help.”
—Psalm 105:4, New Century
Saturday was a running day because it was. Routines are good for body and soul, even when it’s raining. The beauty of sticking to routine on a day like that is that you can depend on having the track to yourself. You can also depend on people driving by and thinking, “wow, look at that idiot!” It all felt good and inspiring at first. After a few laps, however, the rain began to penetrate clothing, the chill started working into fingers and toes, and the wind in my face while heading northeast was brutal. Everything within me was thinking…
“I just walked about 7 miles yesterday, so why am I doing this now?”
“I could maybe just do half the course and call it a day—works for me.”
“I should really stop right now because this is NUTS and no one would blame me.”
“I should keep going anyway because that’s what all the motivational posters and reels say I should do…”
"Jesus told them a picture-story to show that [they] should always pray and not give up."
—Luke 18:1, New Life Version
...Just when I was about to cave in to any and all temptations to quit, God planted that picture-story of the persistent widow in my head, and how against all odds and frustrations, she kept on praying until she got an answer. As one miserable lap turned into another, I was reminded of how that picture-story ended: ”However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find this kind of persistent faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8, Amplified) When all is said and done, I have always wanted to be that guy with “this kind of persistent faith,” but on this day when I’d rather quit than persevere, the picture-story was louder and clearer than ever:
Me: “This is really hard. What if I quit now? No one would notice.”
Answer in head (maybe God?): “Yes, but what if you found out when the Son of Man comes that you were the only one still praying?”
Mic drop.
God can do any and everything thing He wants, anytime. But for some reason, He prefers that His kids depend on Him for any and everything, and ask Him for any and everything, and work through that kind of relationship. And that Saturday run in the rain and against the wind—not unlike the journey we face many days on this Walk—drove home the ancient quote attributed to Saint Augustine: “Pray as though everything depended on God; act as though everything depended on you.” Don’t quit. Persevere. Never give up...
...Depend on the Great I Am and not the imperfect “I.”
...And before I knew it, I was on the last lap of my 5K, soaked to the bone, but energized to keep going even further! But this picture-story was not over, because maybe it never is. This morning, I read some confirming words—perhaps another of God’s ways of using an everyday thing like the good routine of a morning devotional—to remind us of what really matters (and also making sure I didn’t forget that run in the rain):
“The reason why the Bible spends so much of its time reiterating that God is a strong rock, a firm defense, and sure refuge and help for the weak is that God spends so much of His time showing us that we are weak, both mentally and morally, and dare not trust ourselves to find or follow the right road. When we walk along a clear road feeling fine, and someone takes our arm to help us, likely we would impatiently shake him off, but when we are caught in rough country in the dark, with a storm brewing and our strength spent, and someone takes our arm to help us, we would thankfully lean on him. And God wants us to feel that our way through life is rough and perplexing, so that we may learn to lean on Him thankfully. Therefore, He takes steps to drive us out of self-confidence to trust in [and depend on] Himself, to—in the classic scriptural phrase for the secret of the godly man’s life—‘wait on the Lord.’”—J.I. Packer
Even on a track on a rainy Saturday.
No comments:
Post a Comment