STANDING STILL IN PRAISE

"Praise the Lord.
Praise the name of the Lord;
     praise Him, you servants of the Lord,
you who minister in the house of the Lord,
     in the courts of the house of our God.
Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good;
     sing praise to His name, for that is pleasant." (Psalm 135:1-3 NIV)

What a privilege to stand in praise before the Lord! It seems to me that today we always want to be moving on; we cannot stand still. So many things claim our attention that we are perpetually on the go. We cannot stop for a moment. But he who is spiritual knows how to stand still. He can stand before God in worship while God makes known to him [God's] will. He can pause and await orders.

May I ask you, dear fellow-worker, is not all your work carried out to a schedule? And is it not to be done in great haste? Can you be persuaded to call a halt and stand a while before [God] in praise? You will learn much that way. 

-- Watchman Nee in “A Table in the Wilderness” 

#5869

THE FAST LANE OF HURRIEDNESS

“Be still, and know that I am God.”  (Psalm 46:10a NIV)

It's time to learn another way to live [other than the fast lane of hurriedness]. To do that, we must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from our lives. As much as we complain about it, though, there's part of us that is drawn to a hurried life. It makes us feel important. It keeps the adrenaline pumping. It means I don't have to look too closely at my heart or life. It keeps us from feeling our loneliness. As long as I have [busyness], I can demonstrate that I am an important person.

"The press of busyness is like a charm," Kierkegaard wrote. "Its power swells... it reaches out, seeking always to lay hold of ever-younger victims so that childhood or youth are scarcely allowed the quiet and the retirement in which the Eternal may unfold a divine growth."

Hurry, then, is not just a disordered schedule. Hurry is a disordered heart.

-- John Ortberg, in “Leadership Weekly”

#5792

ELIMINATING HURRY

NOTE: After today I will be taking a short break due to knee replacement surgery. I hope to resume with SOUND BITES after Labor Day on September 6.

 

ELIMINATING HURRY

“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”  (Psalm 46:10)

"You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life." Imagine for a moment that someone gave you this prescription, with the warning that your life depends on it. Consider the possibility that perhaps your life does depend on it. Hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day. Hurry can destroy our souls. Hurry can keep us from living well. As Carl Jung wrote, "Hurry is not of the devil; hurry is the devil."

Again and again, as we pursue spiritual life, we must do battle with hurry. For many of us the great danger is not that we will renounce our faith. It is that we will become so distracted and rushed and preoccupied that we will settle for a mediocre version of it. We will just skim our lives instead of actually living them.

-- John Ortberg in “The Life You've Always Wanted” 

#5424

LISTEN SLOWLY

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”  (Matthew 7:24 NIV)

I vividly remember some time back being caught in the undertow of too many commitments in too few days. It wasn't long before I was snapping at my wife and our children, choking down my food at mealtimes, and feeling irritated at those unexpected interruptions through the day. Before long, things around our home started reflecting the pattern of my hurry-up style. It was becoming unbearable.
I distinctly recall after supper one evening the words of our younger daughter, Colleen. She wanted to tell me about something important that had happened to her at school that day. She hurriedly began, "Daddy-I-wanna-tell-you-somethin'-and-I'll-tell-you-really-fast."

Suddenly realizing her frustration, I answered, "Honey, you can tell me ... and you don't have to tell me really fast. Say it slowly."

I'll never forget her answer: "Then listen slowly."

-- Charles Swindoll in “Stress Fractures”


#4461

BE STILL AND…

"Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world." (Psalm 46:10 NLT)

Our Adversary majors in three things: noise, hurry and crowds.  If he can keep us engaged in "muchness" and "manyness," he will rest satisfied. 

-- Richard J. Foster

#2989