“Busy.” It’s our word today. We are all busy, and busy is never peaceful. Summer vacations are ending, kids are back at school, and our Autumn busyness may be blowing in some unwanted storms. In our social media culture of promoting ourselves, we rush to post everything we’re doing. But researchers and psychologists are telling us that our nonstop schedules are causing us to be more depressed than ever. Trying to stand against the winds of our demanding and often disruptive culture is challenging – especially if you work in media.
Each day becomes a blur as we pack more into our already over-scheduled calendar.
The responsibilities of our lives and those never-ending bills never cease. It reminds me of the classic repeating scenes in the movie All That Jazz based on the career of Bob Fosse. The frazzled choreographer/director looks in the mirror each morning and says, “It’s showtime” turning on a fake smile as he tries to deflect the completely exhausted and depressed reflection staring back at him. Many of us are putting on that face as life marches on. We often ask God, “Do you see and care about this bondage I’m in?”
When Moses led the Children of Israel out of Egypt it took convincing.
We read in the Bible about the plagues God sent to convince the Pharaoh to release God’s people, but have you ever thought how much convincing Moses needed to do to get the Jews to pack up and leave? They were in bondage and knew it, but they had gotten comfortable with their daily grind. It was just the way it was, and there seemed no hope of any change. What’s our reaction when the sludge of life hits us between the eyes? Do we say, “Get me out of Egypt?”
Are we ready to get out and trust our ever present and living God?
Once the Jews were freed from Egypt’s control, it took 40 years of wandering to root out their past habits. They had to learn to trust God – a powerful, miraculous force. However today, we don’t always step out of the bondage we have succumbed to all at once either. Most of the time we get sucked into the raging whirlwinds.
Has busyness finally caught you in a whirlwind feeling depressed and wasted?
Want to get out? God has promised in His Word that when you’re ready He’s there with “the peace that passes all understanding.” (Philippians 4:7). He is in the peaceful center at the eye of the storm. He has been waiting for us there all along. But we have to choose to walk out to Him and engage on His terms. He wants our completetrust. It’s not a group trust or trust in a pastor or leadership coach but engagement with Him that He’s after. Are you courageous enough? Are you willing to not take the same old well-traveled path of “busy” and enter instead into the wilderness way?
God told Moses to go into the desert and not take the well-worn road when they left Egypt (Exodus 13:18). He knew the shortest road would lead to war with the Philistines and God also knew that Pharaoh would come charging after them. God wanted to show them that if they were willing to keep moving forward trusting completely in Him and in His direction, He would protect them. And He did just that – parting the Red Sea miraculously and swallowing up their enemies.
God’s calling us to move forward and experience His miraculous power.
Moses and the children of Israel didn’t know where they were going when they left Egypt, but they decided they’d had enough. They chose freedom. They walked in blind obedience with the winds of God and not against Him. They courageously began to learn to trust God in a wilderness of uncertainties. Unfortunately, it would take an entire generation before they were in a place of complete personal trust. But it’s why when God told them to march around the walls of Jericho and blow trumpets that seemed ridiculous, they didn’t question Him. They had learned to follow a miraculous, consistently trustworthy and out of the box God.
Are we there yet, God?
As we begin this Autumn season and watch the changing leaves, perhaps drink a pumpkin spice latte and wrap up in a cozy sweater, remember that we don’t have to put on a busy fake smile for social media. We can have joy and peace no matter how crazy and uncertain our life becomes knowing that God brings peaceful provision. He leads us through the wilderness if we keep walking forward in trust and obedience. He will provide a cloud of rest to keep us in perfect peace as the winds of life swirl around us.
He’s promised a land to us – Heaven. But until then… let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”
Hebrews 12:1.
