Yes you should! However you want to say it, the balance of staying and going, waiting and working, or resting and running are necessary rhythms that God has instituted in order for us to be effective servants.
The gorgeous gal the picture connected to this post is my beautiful wife, Ilona! God had graciously gifted us with a week to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary in Cancun. It was one of the most restful, memorable, and fun weeks we have ever experienced. My dear friends in Trinidad and Tobago would say that we had done a great job limin’ that week!
By the way, if you would like to read more about the great work God is doing (and the privilege that KWM has to be a part of it) in the great nation of Trinidad and Tobago, (click here).
Our need to rest and reconnect that week was huge. After that period of limin’ we came back to our ministry assignments ready for some heavy lifting again. As I write this post, my family and I are about to embark on another much needed time of limin.
So in the spirit of beginning my unwinding process, enabling me to enter into the fullness of God’s rest, I would like to share with you a different kind of post. Below is an excerpt (adapted in just small ways) from my wife’s journal. I am excited to share it with you for several reasons:
- According to Google analytics, over 40% of those who visit our www.kingdomwayministries.net site are women. This is for you, from a woman’s heart–the heart of the most godly woman I know.
- I believe it will encourage and challenge you in your struggle to maintain balance–even if you’re a man! In fact, if you’re a real man, follower of God, and leader of others, you would be wise to learn from the godly women God has placed around you, especially if that person is your wife!
- I’ve been asking God how I can better include y wife in all that He is entrusting us to do with KWM. Maybe this is part of His answer. So if you feel blessed and challenged as you read this post–and would like similar posts from time to time in the future–please let us know (contact us here with your thoughts and comments) and share it / post it on your social media outlets through the icons at the top or bottom of this post!
Resting
“Be still and know that I am God…” (Psalm 46:10a)“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him…” (Psalm 37:7a)
Running
“We proclaim, admonishing, and teaching… To this end I labor, struggling with all His energy, which so powerfully works in me.” (Col. 1:28-29)“…I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me…” (Phil. 3:12-14)
At first it seems as if these two actions are in direct opposition to each other. How can we both “be still” and “wait,” and yet “labor, struggle, press on,” etc.? Waiting patiently, struggling and straining, do not seem to go together. But, in fact, they go hand in hand.
Waiting
When we are told to be still and wait, its purpose is often to guard us from the futile, self-seeking, chaotic graspings of the godless ones around us. The ones who grapple for power and accumulate wealth, hoping to attain some sort of lasting satisfaction or self made sense of importance.
The temptation for the child of God is to follow suit, and in the process, become discouraged and defeated in our own futile efforts. In the midst of all this useless mortal energy, our God is telling us to “stop,” “wait,” “be still.”
He is not telling us to run and hide, cowering in the dark, but to wait patiently, trusting that He is watching, He is in control, and that He does not want His children to lower themselves and act like the foolish, hopeless ones that live their lives apart from God.
In this act of calm trust, we reflect the character of Almighty God. He will be exalted, showing His power and holiness, either with us or without us. It is as we wait that we are able to hear His voice, see what He is doing, and then what He wants us to do.
Working
Once this happens, the stillness has to turn into the striving, laboring, and pressing on. To hear what He is telling us, to see what He is doing, yet to ignore Him and remain in quiet stillness is cowardly disobedience. We need to be shouting from the rooftops, drawing attention not to ourselves, but to our awesome God and what He is doing!
The laboring and striving is to keep us in step with Him. The struggling is to follow Him closely so that we don’t lose our footing. The pressing on is to keep following until the end, without quitting.
To labor apart from quiet trust is acting out of fearful impatience. To remain still when He is telling us to keep up, is acting out of lazy cowardice. One is not more spiritual than the other. Either option is going our own way, arrogantly believing that we know better than God.
Both result in sin, proving to those who do not know God that we are no different from them.
RESOLVE PRAYER…
O Lord, I confess my inability to maintain the right balance of resting and running, of waiting and working. Yet I see clearly its importance not only for my life, but for the lives of those I seek to influence for You. I want to please you and obey you with the right balance. Please help me. Give me wisdom. Grant me the resolve to say, “I will be still and wait as I labor and press on. Trusting, following, enduring. Stopping when You stop, running when You run, walking when You walk, climbing when You climb.” Then, grant me the strength to follow through. Show Yourself to the world through me, both in times when I’m working, and in the times I’m resting. I love you my father. In Your precious Son’s name–Jesus–Amen!