“At times you may feel so worn out and stressed that you are not sure you can take another step.” That statement by Henry Blackaby had me hooked immediately – sure resonated with his words.
His devotional talked about situations all too familiar – maybe for you, too:
- Seems you spend all your time running from crisis to crisis
- You constantly are giving your time and energy to others
- Stress seems to be your constant companion
Now I agreed with his position that the Lord wants to renew our strength and enable us to enjoy the abundant life He intends for us.
But I was taken aback by Blackaby’s summary of what to do about this situation – he said “the key is to WAIT upon Him to do so [give us an that abundant life].”
What? WAIT?
Truly, our generation does not enjoy waiting. And yes, that includes ME! I want relief now, so don’t be telling me to wait!
I fit in the group Blackaby describes – rushing through our lives without stopping to evaluate our activities.
Yet his explanation made sense. He said that part of God’s restorative process is to slow us down and make us listen to Him. Then as we wait on Him, God will remind us of our utter dependence upon His strength. That is hard for us “no thank you, I want this fixed now so I will do it myself” kind of people.
It is hard for me to accept Blackaby’s promise that when we slow down and seek His will, He will reveal His plans. Of course, I have to walk through the transition of wanting MY plans to knowing I really need to just want HIS plans because they are so much better than I could ever imagine.
Then Blackaby flipped me completely when he next shared that “biblically, waiting on the Lord is never passive; it is always active.”
Hold on, didn’t you say we had to “wait”, slow down and listen, not zip off into our own “fix” for the situation?
OK, I did pull up on the reins a bit and check out his summary – and yes, there is wisdom in how he directs us to respond. Blackaby says waiting requires us to cease our own pursuits and give God our complete attention. I will admit that is not my first response.
He says we may have to give up some of the activities we have allowed to inundate our lives – we need to take an entire day to sit quietly before the Lord. Wait a minute – I thought it is always “active”. Yes, he answered that, too – if we ask Him, God will show us the resources He has provided to help with the work we have been attempting on our own.
Interestingly, he says that God may address feelings of guilt that have motivated us to do things that He has not asked us to do. That is causing me to take a long, hard look at the totality of my activities – and which ones are causing me to stress out on a regular basis.
As is often the case, Jesus is our best example. He carried more responsibility than I could ever carry – tons more people needed Him than will ever need me. Yet He was never overwhelmed or inadequate for the task. OK, I can dispense with the “but I’m not perfect like Jesus” argument because He did take on full humanity when He walked the earth. But, as Blackaby points out, He offers today to guide me so that I will fulfill my heavenly Father’s will and gain the strength necessary for each day. And that peace that passes all understanding (which He demonstrated all the way up to the cross).
Check out Matthew 11:28 – “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Coming to Him is that active step I need to take first. Actively listening and actively waiting on the Lord. It’s a challenge for someone like me, but it is worth it, I know. I just need to stay in “faithful obedience” mode because I believe Him. How about you?
I had finished this blog when someone’s email sent me a perfect story illustrating just what the lesson above was talking about….here it is.
As the holiday season of 1938 came to Chicago, Bob May wasn’t feeling much comfort or joy. A 34-year-old ad writer for Montgomery Ward, May was exhausted and nearly broke. His wife, Evelyn, was bedridden, on the losing end of a two-year battle with cancer. This left Bob to look after their four-year old-daughter, Barbara.
One night, Barbara asked her father, “Why isn’t my mommy like everybody else’s mommy?” As he struggled to answer his daughter’s question, Bob remembered the pain of his own childhood. A small, sickly boy, he was constantly picked on and called names. But he wanted to give his daughter hope, and show her that being different was nothing to be ashamed of. More than that, he wanted her to know that he loved her and would always take care of her. So he began to spin a tale about a reindeer with a bright red nose who found a special place on Santa’s team. Barbara loved the story so much that she made her father tell it every night before bedtime. As he did, it grew more elaborate. Because he couldn’t afford to buy his daughter a gift for Christmas, Bob decided to turn the story into a homemade picture book.
In early December, Bob’s wife died. Though he was heartbroken, he kept working on the book for his daughter. A few days before Christmas, he reluctantly attended a company party at Montgomery Ward. His co-workers encouraged him to share the story he’d written. After he read it, there was a standing ovation. Everyone wanted copies of their own. Montgomery Ward bought the rights to the book from their debt-ridden employee. Over the next six years, at Christmas, they gave away six million copies of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer to shoppers. Every major publishing house in the country was making offers to obtain the book. In an incredible display of good will, the head of the department store returned all rights to Bob May. Four years later, Rudolph had made him into a millionaire.
Now remarried with a growing family, May felt blessed by his good fortune. But there was more to come. His brother-in-law, a successful songwriter named Johnny Marks, set the uplifting story to music. The song was pitched to artists from Bing Crosby on down. They all passed. Finally, Marks approached Gene Autry. The cowboy star had scored a holiday hit with “Here Comes Santa Claus” a few years before. Like the others, Autry wasn’t impressed with the song about the misfit reindeer. Marks begged him to give it a second listen. Autry played it for his wife, Ina. She was so touched by the line “They wouldn’t let poor Rudolph play in any reindeer games” that she insisted her husband record the tune.
Within a few years, it had become the second best-selling Christmas song ever, right behind “White Christmas.” Since then, Rudolph has come to life in TV specials, cartoons, movies, toys, games, coloring books, greeting cards and even a Ringling Bros. circus act. The little red-nosed reindeer dreamed up by Bob May and immortalized in song by Johnny Marks has come to symbolize Christmas as much as Santa Claus, evergreen trees and presents. As the last line of the song says, “He’ll go down in history.”
May your “history” include His-Story !
