Hurry: To Perform With Undue Haste

 

She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.

Proverbs 31:25

 

 

Lord God, you who are source of all truth, wisdom, justice, and love...Help me constantly to rest my life upon the eternal foundations of your love and presence. Save me from haste and confusion, from wrongful desire, and the net of evil. Through the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, enlighten, instruct, and guide me all the day long. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

(A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants)

 

 

Do you ever wake up in a hurry? I do. My mind is whirring through all the activities inviting my participation, all the obligations awaiting my attention and all the unfinished projects crying out for my resolution. Some mornings, I rush through breakfast, complain to my husband for the umpteenth time about some nagging problem while sipping our morning coffee, and then dive into some pile of work.

 

Neglecting to be still.

 

Then His tender voice whispers, "Kel, Kel."

 

And I press on in my task. He taps me on the shoulder, and I reply "Oh, it's you LORD, what do you want?"

 

Then I pause, and He gently asks His routine question and offers His perennial invitation:

 

"Why all the bluster and rush? Come sit, awhile. Listen. Enjoy my Presence."

 

So I do. And then the Holy Spirit leads me into green pastures, besides still waters and onto paths of righteousness, and all the while He restores my soul.

 

One of the pastures I found myself in today was 1 Samuel 3. The story of God revealing Himself to the young Samuel. At this point Samuel didn't really know God. And it says that "the word of the Lord was rare in those days . . ." (1 Samuel 3:1). Everything was dimming. Eli, Samuel's mentor had poor eyesight, and the lamp in the temple was burning low where Samuel slept in the presence of the ark of the covenant.

 

In this rare and dimly lit moment, God calls out to Samuel. 

 

Samuel thinks Eli is calling him. And it takes Eli, dull Eli with dimming eyesight, three times before he realizes it must be God calling out to Samuel. And so he tells Samuel, go back and if you hear the voice again, this is what you should say: "Speak, LORD, for your servant hears." And Samuel goes back, and thankfully God calls him again, and God reveals Himself to Samuel and tells him some difficult news. Eli is to be judged for his negligence. Samuel reluctantly divulges this word to Eli, which Eli appears to accept with no argument.

 

Samuel continues to grow and be discipled in the truth by the LORD himself. "And the LORD appeared . . . and the LORD revealed himself to Samuel . . . by the word of the LORD." (1 Samuel 3:21)

 

Oh, how I desire to be a beloved Bride, who hears and listens to her Beloved Jesus! That He would continue to call out to me even in the midst of my hurried moments, moments that really never need to be hastily taken in the first place. That I would start my day, waiting as a disciple to listen for words for the weary. (Isaiah 50:4)

 

 

May my heart readily respond:

"Speak, LORD, for your servant hears!"