Tuesday, March 19, 2013

The Resting God Rises


In the craziness that is my life, I have been pondering this question since I last wrote:  What happens when the God at rest awakens? 

What happens when the God at rest wakens?

Have we seen it before?  Have we witnessed His Power in Motion?  Have we seen the Mountain Moved? 

We want to experience the "OMG" thing often and always.  We want our wants gratified, our cravings satisfied, our boredoms nullified, our discomforts mollified, our slights justified.  Yet God is not into entertainment.  God does not put on a show for us to quiet our questions.  His ego does not need the attention; His self-esteem does not require our reassurance that He is in fact Who He says He Is.  He does not need to prove Himself in the face of our doubts.  And His WAITING accomplishes in us far more than demonstration, for its own sake, can.  Regardless of how we pester Him to do more and be more, He acts (or waits) according to WISDOM we cannot comprehend.  While we may carefully mark our actions and reactions according to the changing tides of public opinion, God does not regard public opinion.   

So we often find ourselves in the boat with the God who Rests.  His decision to waken comes at His own bequest.  Often when we are convinced that we will perish regardless.  We tell ourselves it doesn't matter if God is resting in our boat.  We are shark bait anyway.  And we despair.

Only in the moment He chooses does God's POWER reveal Itself.

Here is the part of that "Jesus Calms the Storm" story that nettles me:  The disciples came away from that moment more afraid of Jesus than they were the storm.  They say to themselves, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" (Mark 4:41).

Precisely.  WHO then IS this?  This One Who Rests in our boats?  He IS the original WHO!  And the wind and sea MUST obey HIM! 

HE does not obey ANY storm.

So it makes me wonder about my attitude in life.  I have taught myself to think too little of Him.  I have thought it acceptable and my religion has deemed it appropriate, allowing and even encouraging such small expectations, helping me even to construct a box small enough to house them.

Ahh!  This box in my heart is being demolished!

We become so well acquainted with the "Take up your cross and follow Me" way of life that we forget there is RESSURECTION POWER at work within us!  We forget that the cutting back of pruning and the intense heat of our refining is for a season.  That it is not an end in itself, but rather the vehicle that brings us to Purpose fulfilled, HIS Power revealed, in us and through us for the Transformation of the world!

HE keeps showing me, instructing me, priming me, and positioning me to see that He is not done with anything yet!  And until the storm has obeyed Him, He has not spoken His final WORD over my life.

Or yours.

I just sense in my heart this WORD:  Prepare to be amazed!

And they were filled with great and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"  (Mark 4:41)



No comments: