Day 3. To Learn to Trust God
Most people like things to happen quickly and according to their timetable. And most often we are in a hurry. Dr. Archibald Hart a Christian psychologist suggests that our culture suffers from ‘the hurry up sickness’.
John Ortburg states: “we will buy anything that promises to help us hurry. The best selling shampoo in America rose to the top because it combines shampoo and conditioned in one step, eliminating the need for all the time consuming rinsing people used to have to do…”
He goes on to say, “we worship at the shrine of the Golden Arches, not because they sell ‘good food’ or even ‘cheap food’. But because it is ‘fast food’. Even after fast food was introduced, people still had to park their cars, go inside, order, and take their food to a table, all of which took time. So we invented the Drive – Thro Lane to enable families to eat in their vans as nature intended.” (5)
When things don’t work out the way we hoped or expected we want to get busy and try to fix it. Sometimes we become anxious and upset. As long as we are busy doing something there is the feeling that it will work out because we are working it out. Perhaps we are just going around in circles.
Coming before God and waiting upon him in silence and solitude is really an act of trust that God in his sovereign way will act in his time. David the Psalmist states “My soul waits in silence for God only; from Him is my salvation. He is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken….My soul waits in silence for God only, for my hope is from Him. He is my only rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be shaken…. Trust in him at all times O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge” (Ps.62:1-2; 5-6.; 8).
Exercise
1. Slowly read Psalm. 62
2. Having read the text sit in silence before God.
3. Write in your journal any thoughts that come from the reading.
4. What does it mean for you to trust in God as you contemplate your situation in life today?
Is it difficult for you to leave this with God?
What do you think He wants you to do?
5. Read Philippians. 4:6-7. Write a prayer that applies this truth to your life.
6. Memorize Philippians4:6-7 and recall it during the day especially when you become anxious.
Day 4. To Develop Sensitivity Toward Others
When we are constantly with others it can become extremely demanding and draining upon us. Regularly we hear of people suffering from ‘burn out’. This is a place where we are drained and we feel we have nothing more to give. We are emotionally ‘flat lined’. In silence and solitude we can be renewed physically, emotionally and spiritually so that we can go back into the mainstream of life and minister ‘in the name of Jesus’. Most will not be called to live a life of separation from society; we are called to live in community, but this is a demanding place simply because people are demanding.
As we spend time alone with God, He will renew us and enable us to minister to others with the same tenderness and compassion He showed. Without this time of renewal we have a tendency to become ‘weary in well doing’, and begin to resent the demands people make on us. When Jesus saw the needs of the people He always showed compassion toward them, for He saw them as ‘sheep without a shepherd’.
Thomas Merton stated, “solitude is not turning one’s back on the world; it is turning one’s face toward God”.(6) When we do this we have a different attitude toward people. We start to listen to them, to be less judgmental of them, and to be fully present with them.
Exercise
1. Take five minutes as you enter into silence to repeat the ‘Jesus Prayer’ “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner’.
2. Having prayed this prayer take another five minutes to allow the meaning of the prayer to resonate with your soul. What does the mercy of God mean to you?
3. Read the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. Lk.18:9-14
4. Which one do you identify with most closely? How will this story help you to
develop sensitivity toward people? What next steps do you need to take?
5. Think about some of the people you will encounter today. What resources of grace do you need to be ‘Christ’ to them? As you pray ask the Lord to enable you in very specific ways to be sensitive toward them.
Day 5. Facing Temptation
Before Jesus began his ministry he was led by the Spirit into the desert and for forty days in silence and solitude he struggled with the Devil. Matthew records the three different temptations Jesus encountered which were intended to entice Him away from His calling. In his book ‘In the Name of Jesus’ Henri Nouwen discusses these three temptations as ones we all face in our Christian journey.
The first temptation Nouwen declares is the temptation to be relevant: “If you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread.’ (Matthew 4:3) In ministry we face this similar temptation. He states “Are we not called to do something that makes a difference in people’s lives? Aren’t we called to heal the sick, feed the hungry and alleviate the suffering of the poor? Jesus was faced with the same questions, but when he was asked to prove his power as the Son of God by the relevant power of changing stones into bread, he clung to his mission to proclaim the word and said, “Human beings live not by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (7)
Perhaps in our attempt to be relevant when many in ministry feel that what they are doing makes absolutely no difference in the lives of people we want to appear relevant by meeting the needs of people. Nouwen challenges us to be careful and to be aware of this temptation which on the surface seems to be so subtle. For Nouwen the “leader of the future will be one who dares to claim his irrelevance in the contemporary world as a divine vocation that allows him or her to enter into a deep solidarity with the anguish underlying all the glitter of success and to bring the light of Jesus there.” (8)
The second temptation is to be spectacular, to do something that would win him the approval and applause of the crowd. “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from the highest pinnacle…He will command his angels concerning you and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” (Matthew 4:6) Nouwen states “Jesus refused to be a stunt man. He did not come to prove himself … When you look at today’s Church, it is easy to see the prevalence of individualism among ministers and priests. Not too many of us have a vast repertoire of skills to be proud of, but most of us still feel that if we have anything at all to show, it is something we have to do solo….Stardom and individual heroism, which are such obvious aspects of our competitive society, are not at all alien to the Church. There too the dominant image is that of the self - made man or woman who can do it all alone.” (9)
The third temptation is the temptation of power. “Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. All this I will give you if you will bow down and worship me” (Matthew 4:8-9) Nouwen writes “One of the greatest ironies of the history of Christianity is that its leaders constantly gave in to the temptation of power…The temptation to consider power an apt instrument for the proclamation of the Gospel is the greatest of all. We keep hearing from others, as well as saying to ourselves, that having power-provided it is used in the service of God and your fellow human beings-is a good thing. With this rationalization, crusades took place; inquisitions were organized; Indians were enslaved; positions of great influence were desired; Episcopal palaces were built; and much moral manipulation of conscience was engaged in.
What makes the