God always has time for us.
God said (Psalms 46:10) “Be still and know that I AM God”. Are you still enough, long enough, often enough to know by daily experience that the great I AM is your God? There are different kinds and levels of knowing. If you get an invoice for a large amount on your charge account, you know that you have sufficient funds in the bank. You can also know that Columbus discovered America. Your bank account knowing brings you worry-free peace of mind which you could never get from knowing about Columbus. Quite some time ago I met a lady who told me that she was a heaven-bound Christian. When I asked her how she became a Christian she said she went to Sunday School as a child and had attended church all her life. She had a head knowledge and believed the historical facts of the death and resurrection of Jesus. She was definitely NOT a Christian. The demons believe (James 2:19) what she believed and their very knowledge of those facts makes them tremble in terror.
To receive Jesus Christ as personal Saviour requires a specific choice of the will and heart to recognize and confess our sin, to ask for cleansing by His precious Blood, by faith to believe and receive Him as our (Acts 4:12) only hope and (John 14:6) the only Saviour.
We all know many things which can mean little or nothing to us. But when God tells us to know something it is obvious that it is possible for us to know it - - and we ignore His instruction to our own extremely severe loss. Is God my shining Reality and everything else mere shadows in comparison? Are we still enough to know God so personally that we are confident (Isaiah 61:3) that He will replace ashes with beauty, something far richer than what was consumed; that He will turn mourning into joy as He reveals more of Himself to us, that when our hearts are heavy with discouragement He will strip all that away and clothe us, envelop us with a garment of praise? Beauty, joy, praise are all found in knowing God, but we will only discover them if we take time to be still. Paul said (2 Corinthians 12:7) that a thorn was given to him. Are we ever still enough to see that thorns in our life can be (1 Thessalonians 2:9) fragrant flowers of good news in other lives?
Are we still enough to learn (Philippians 4:6,12) the secret of contentment in all circumstances and give thanks in everything because we know God has a good purpose for everything He sends or allows? Our present world is filled with fearful things and in the midst of them it is only natural for us to feel twinges of fear as we hear of more alarming happenings every day. But we don’t have to put up with fear of them. If we get still enough, we can actually experience that (1 John 4:18) God’s perfect love is casting out fear and His grace (2 Corinthians 12:9) is always sufficient. No matter what happens, God never loses control. He is always in charge. Our confidence and security is in the Sovereignty of Almighty God and we are sheltered (Deuteronomy 33:27) in His loving arms.
There will be times when we feel so weak and unable that we almost feel like giving up. Don’t! That is just the time to be still and realize that it is at my very weakest in human strength (2 Corinthians 12:9-10) the perfection of God’s powerful strength is manifested and then we are truly strong and powerful in God’s strength. These are just a few of the hardships and difficulties God will use in our lives because we must (2 Kings 19:30) take root downward in order to bear fruit upward, so that we will be (Colossians 2:7) rooted and built up in Christ and established in faith. Let your roots go deep in Jesus for nourishment and for strength to stand firm in the most powerful gale. We can be thankful for everything God sends or permits because of (Romans 8:29) to make us like Jesus.
Our God is (Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8) immutable and He has declared (Isaiah 46:10) the end from the beginning. As wise obedient stewards of our time, we need to learn to take time without wasting time. Take time to be still and know. The culture of the world system could not understand or tolerate time for stillness but if you have a growing hunger in your heart to know the Lord better – deeper – closer, I urge you for your own sake to take time to be still and get alone with God, just the Lord and you and discover the power of stillness. Consider the wonder of Jesus and know increasingly that in dying (1 John 3:8) He conquered death and in rising from the dead (John 11:25-26) He made eternal life the never-ending glorious Reality for every believer. It is utterly amazing that the Transcendent God always has time for us and yet so many of us seem to have so little time for Him.
Have you messed up, strayed away from close fellowship with the Lord? Do you have a feeling that there is a deep well of trouble within you, which separates you from God and you can’t get back? That is a deception from the devil – I know because I have been there. Don’t listen to his lies but listen to God’s Truth.