Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.
Psalm 37:7 NIV
God isn’t going to speak to you if there’s a bunch of noise going on in your life. You’ve got to get alone, and you’ve got to get quiet. We call this a quiet time.
Jesus says it like this in Matthew 6:6: “Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace” (MSG).
The key to hearing God speak and getting his vision for your life is this: God wants to meet with you.
You need to realize you’re not waiting on God; he’s waiting on you. God made you to have a relationship with him. He wants you to spend time with him on a daily basis. He wants you to schedule a date with him every day. God is waiting.
Getting alone in a quiet place is pretty difficult today. I don’t know if you realize how much noise there is in your life. You’ve always got the radio on in the car or you’ve got earbuds in or Bluetooth turned on. Every waiting room, grocery store, and elevator has music. There’s very little time in your life that’s absolutely quiet.
If you’ve got kids at home, it’s even more difficult! But let me give you some hope. Susanna Wesley, one of the great women of history, had 18 children. One of her sons, John, founded the Methodist church and spread Christianity across the western part of America with Methodist revival preachers, and another, Charles, wrote more than 6,000 hymns.
How do you find time alone when you have 18 children? In her biography, it says that Susanna Wesley would go and sit in her favorite rocker every afternoon, and she would throw her apron over her head for an hour. Her kids knew that Mom with apron over her head means, “No child bothers Mom or you die!”
Wesley said it was the prayers of his mom that shaped his life. You can find time alone if you are that desperate. Make time to be quiet and meet with the Lord.
Who Do You Choose: Jesus or Late Night TV?
The reason why most people never hear God speak to them is that they never slow down enough to let God talk to them. Hurry is the death of prayer! You’ve got to slow down. You’ve got to be quiet. And, you’ve got to wait expectantly.
Psalm 37:7 says, “Be still in the presence of the LORD, and wait patiently for him to act” (NLT).
The only way you’re going to be able to do this is if you get up earlier, which means you’re going to have to go to bed 30 minutes earlier. So the decision comes down to this: Who do you want to spend time with, Jesus — or Jimmy, Conan, or the other Jimmy? That’s your choice! Because you’re going to have to get up earlier so you’re not rushed and able to spend some time and start your day with God.
There is nothing on nighttime TV that will change your life. Nothing! Spending those 30 minutes in the morning with God, however, will change your life.
If I told you that tomorrow morning at 4 a.m. the queen of England, the president of the U.S., and the pope all wanted to meet with you privately, you probably wouldn’t even go to bed tonight. You’d take a bath — you’d probably take two baths! You’d go find an all-night barber or beauty salon, get a new suit, and get spiffed up. You’d be at the meeting 30 minutes early.
The Creator of the universe wants to meet with you tomorrow morning! You don’t even have to get dressed. You can be in your PJs. You don’t even have to leave your home. But you do have to plan an appointment. That means you have to stop doing something so you can start doing what God wants. If you’re burning the candle at both ends, you’re not as bright as you think you are. You’ve got to decide what’s more important to you: another 30 minutes of late night TV or time with God every morning.
One day God’s going to ask you, “Which one did you choose?”
This devotional © 2014 by Rick Warren.
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