When I lived in Mexico, an older gentlemen from the U.S. came to visit us. During an afternoon in “el desierto” (a deserted place up in the forrest and mountains nearby that we went to get away with God) I perceived that he was very wise and asked him for the best advice he’d give a young man. This is what he said:
The LORD directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way? -Proverbs 20:24 NLT
My wife and I have been in a season of life where we are asking God regularly, “What are you doing with our lives? Where do you want us to go? Lead us!”
It’s been a long and challenging journey, often feeling alone and bewildered. Some things that God has revealed through this challenging process is our need to maintain an attitude of dependence on Him. We don’t get to know where He is taking us, but if we say we trust Him, then we get the joy of sitting back and not fearing. The fact that we are anxious about it shows that we don’t trust Him or we don’t believe that He is fully good. Sometimes I catch myself thinking that my plans will have a better outcome than His; which really makes me out to be a stubborn teenager all over again, believing that I know more than my parents.
Do you know more than God? Can you rest in the faith that the Creator of the universe has more in store for you than you could ever prepare for yourself with your tiny mind and little hands?
Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. -CS Lewis, Weight of Glory
I’ve been on a journey over the last years, learning about discipline; spiritual discipline, physical discipline, emotional discipline and mental discipline. In no way have I come to fully understand or even utter the word “master” regarding these disciplines, although I have learned much and am still learning much.
Regular, even gentle, steady pressure, exerted over time will result in dramatic, powerful and lasting change that could not be accomplished with even extreme force otherwise.
Spiritual Discipline
Through regular times of meditation and prayer, not trying to move mountains or discover some unearthed truth, I have encountered God in ways that are precious and dear to me; ways that no super-stadium worship service or Martin Luther King style speech could. Small, simple times of hiding away with the Lord are one of the many ways to know Him, but a very effective way indeed.
Physical Discipline
I’m no Sylvester Stallone or Tony Horton in the gym, but I have found that regular, short periods of physical exertion produce satisfying results. Two or three easy runs a week and several pushups and sit-ups a night have restored my body to feeling strong and healthy.
Relational Discipline
Life is full of events, meetings and responsibilities to uphold, so I’m well aware of how key relationships
in my life can fall by the wayside as other urgent priorities strip away my time from truly important priorities. A weekly breakfast with my wife draws us back to intimacy and keeps us on the same page. Scheduling one short hang-out time per week with a close friend or relative does something for my soul that nourishes like nothing else can. And when I die (which is eminent, though I’d like to think myself invincible) I won’t be wondering on my death-bed whether my business plans succeeded, but instead whether my siblings, parents, wife and friends know that they are loved.
Mental Discipline
Learning is a joy to me, though I am often condemned by the fact that I have not completed my bachelor’s degree. So scheduling short 45-minute study breaks in my day to learn something new or finish one more class towards my degree is both rewarding and inspiring. With the pressures of work and providing, learning can take the back seat, but if I intend to grow and succeed, I cannot neglect mental discipline. I welcome any who read this to hold me accountable in this area, and will celebrate with you when that degree is completed.
The reason these things are so key in my life is because I am no hero, no great leader and no prodigy. I’m a simple man with blatant weaknesses and areas of necessary growth. So only by regular and small effort can I have any hope of seeing great life-change and success in my life.
In closing, may I urge you to take a step towards increased discipline in one area of your life? Where can you add a gentle but steady goal-oriented pressure in your life? How have you seen this already play out in your story?
The “Shekinah” of God is the “glory or radiance of God dwelling in the midst of His people” [Foster, Celebration of Disciplines, pg. 138]. Almighty God is in your presence right now as you read this sentence off a computer monitor. Stop for a moment and try to grasp that; bask in the wonder and awe of that. Our response to a completely holy (set apart, different, perfect, righteous) God is Worship.
Richard Foster quotes Frank Laubach, “Of today’s miracles, the greatest is this: to know that I find Thee best when I work listening.” The idea is that we were meant to engage with God throughout our daily roles, chores, tasks, jobs, etc. Our lives were not intended to be fragmented and compartmentalized. The truth is that the distractions which often keep us from God may just be the exact activities He wants to be known in the most.
Seek God while you work.
This doesn’t mean that there are times when you must pull away from work and activity to practice other disciplines that draw you into His presence, but as a regular practice, begin learning to see, hear and know “the Teacher” in the midst of your life. Live with a “holy expectancy” that God will be found in your moment-by-moment activities. See God in the faces around you, the voice of the phone call you are on and in the words of the e-mails you read. I am not advocating pantheism in any sense, but advising you the both welcome Him and become receptive to Him in each situation.
It is commonly taught in most evangelical churches today that we as a culture worship many things; sports, celebrities, success, family, etc. Foster/Tozer points out that “the essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him.” Let me break that down in a vulnerable sense: my workaholism can stem from a fear of not having enough. That ultimately stems from my un-true belief that God will not provide and thus I must take charge. This “unworthy thought” of God detracts me from worship of Him and leads me towards pain and destruction.
Analyze your life-patterns. Is your behavior reflecting an inadequate view of God?
Foster also points out that Worship causes confession; confession of God’s glorious nature and confession of our inadequate nature. This is good and something that should be done in community, for the edification of the Body of Christ, his Church.
As you head into the rest of your day, where might God be breaking into your presence with His Shekinah?
Are your thoughts of Him right? If not, which areas of your life are being affected by them?
How do you need to respond to God’s glory today? Confessing His greatness or your smallness?