God is with us all the time, but we are only keenly aware of God some of the time. This is normal for humans, of course, but we would all benefit by learning to pause and relax into God’s presence. This 5-day reading plan looks at people in the Old Testament and New Testament who didn’t notice God, even when God was right next to them. It also offers some practical ways to relax into God’s presence each day so we can notice God more, either when we are stressed or just going about our day.
CapableLife
Day 1
Scripture: Genesis 28:16-18
Jacob was running for his life when he uttered his famous phrase, “Surely the Lord is in this place and I was not aware of it.” He had most recently tricked his own father, pretending to be his brother so he could steal the rights to being the firstborn. It was a dirty trick, especially considering his dad’s frail state, but it worked. His mother didn’t mind; she was in on the whole operation. To say that Esau minded is an understatement. He immediately went on the warpath after his younger brother, demanding justice, desperate to get back what Jacob had swindled. I doubt Jacob took time to pack when he ran for his life. At the end of his first day, he lay down exhausted and fell asleep using a stone for a pillow. How tired do you need to be when you can sleep soundly on a stone? God showed up shortly afterward, and Jacob awoke startled, suddenly aware of God’s presence.
I doubt that you relate to Jacob’s predicament, but I am sure you relate to his cry, “Surely the Lord is in this place and I was not aware of it.” Do you have trouble noticing God’s presence? I certainly do. It is difficult to notice God when you are running hard. Maybe it is your pace, or maybe it is everything you are holding. Maybe it is what has hold of you. When we are anxious, wrapped up in ourselves, running from one thing to another, or avoiding someone, we are prone to forget the Lord.
Jacob certainly had a competitive advantage over us. God appeared in such a vivid dream that Jacob awoke startled. It is harder for us. God is invisible and therefore intangible, so it can be harder to notice God, especially in our typical days. But we can all pause, take deeper than normal breaths, and relax into God’s actual presence.
Ok, so it can be difficult to notice God, but one thing we can work on is noticing when you’ve stopped noticing God. We can practice by intentionally interrupting our day. I recommend taking six or eight moments per day when you pause and practice a micro habit. A micro habit takes one to ten minutes, and the best micro habits are connected to God’s gifts. What has God given in your life? Looking in the eyes of a loved one, pausing to notice a sunset, listening to a piece of music, savoring a good meal, slowly reading a passage of scripture. Before your next reading, take time to capture a dozen or so micro habits and begin pausing a handful of times today. You will practice the micro habit and relax into God’s presence with a brief prayer of gratitude. As you do, reflect on what you are holding, what has hold of you, and give that over to God.
You might even pause now and set some calendar appointments to help remind you throughout the day.
Day 2
Scripture: 2 Kings 6:15-17
I confess to occasionally being jealous of people in the Bible. God revealed himself more viscerally and tangibly back then than he seems to nowadays. In today’s story, Elisha’s apprentice, Gehazi, wakes up to find that they are surrounded by the Aramean army. In contrast, when Elisha woke up, he also saw the Arameans surrounding them, but he was cool as a cucumber. What was his secret? Despite the immediate situation, Elisha could see what God was doing; Gehazi couldn’t.
I relate to Gehazi in this way. I am prone to focus on my immediate circumstances more than on God’s presence. He saw his circumstances and immediately went into overwhelm. He thought this day would be his last day alive. In his defense, Gehazi had every reasonable reason to think that. But Elisha was relaxed because he could see the Lord’s army.
In this series of readings, we are learning to notice when we have stopped noticing God, so we can pause and relax into the Lord. How are your life circumstances today? Are you overwhelmed by all going on? Does the world feel against you? These can all be circumstances that cause you to ‘forget the Lord.’ Elisha’s prayer for Gehazi was powerful. “Open his eyes, LORD, so that he may see.” I envy Gehazi, who got an immediate, visual, and visceral view of God’s army surrounding the Arameans. It was all in God’s hands; it was going to be alright. Nowadays, I find it difficult to trust an invisible God. I don’t experience such visual and visceral evidence of God, which is why perhaps I struggle to trust. But trusting in a good God is still better than trusting in my own sight. Maybe you can pause today and ask God to show you His work, His ways. You may be in a genuinely difficult situation, a situation that requires advocacy or activism even. Noticing God is not about sitting passively while the enemy presses in, sometimes you have to fight. But still, you can take a moment and remember that God is with you. Take a few intentional, slow breaths and relax into God’s presence.
Day 3
Scripture: Luke 24:13-32
In their defense, they were mourning the shocking death of Jesus, so it is completely reasonable that they didn’t recognize him. But still, I enjoy the humor of this exchange. Jesus asks, “What are you guys talking about?” Cleopus can’t believe any local wouldn’t know the news and proceeds to tell Jesus all about……Jesus!
Cleopus is in good company here. Jacob, Gehazi, you and I, all people who don’t notice God when God is right next to us. Cleopus’s reason is very understandable; he was caught up in his circumstances, overwhelmed by all that was going on. His expectations were not being met, and frankly, when God does not meet your expectations and assumptions, it is difficult to notice God, isn’t it? That is why it is important to pause and ‘remember the Lord.’
I am struck by how Cleopus tells Jesus events that Jesus already knows. This is somehow the beauty of prayer – we often end up telling God things God already knows. That is ok, because we do not pray to inform God about our lives, we pray to relax into God’s sovereign presence, remembering that God is already involved in what we are anxious about.
And so with Cleopus and his companion. They walked with Jesus for several hours, and it was only in the sacramental meal that they recognized him, and he then soon vanished. Isn’t that the way it is, too? We get a glimpse, a moment of clarity, and then poof, Jesus is hard to see again. It takes faith to follow Jesus, and faith is difficult. We need to be kind to ourselves in the ebb and flow of noticing God.
Cleopus said, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” That is what we long for, isn’t it? A burning heart in God’s presence, chatting to and fro about all that is going on as God expands our experience and invites us into communion. It’s beautiful.
I find it difficult to notice when I’ve stopped noticing God. I am most prone to keep on with my day. That is why I intentionally practice a pause eight to ten times per day. I stop what I am doing and “remember the Lord.” Sometimes I intentionally experience a simple gift from God, like the companionship of my dog, or the view of the mountains near where I live, or even taking a deeper-than-normal breath.
What could you do today to relax into God’s presence? Consider making a list of God’s goodness to you and then practicing some of those today. You might find your savior joining right next to you as you go on your own journey of life.
Day 4
Scripture: John 9
Before Jesus, no record of a blind person receiving sight had ever been made. The man himself exclaimed, “Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind!” But Jesus did. Placing mud on the man’s eyes, He told him to wash in the Pool of Siloam, and the blind man came home seeing. It’s amazing! The impossible became possible, but the Pharisees missed it.
How did they fail to notice God in this? Verse fourteen provides a pretty clear clue: “Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath.”
Honoring the Sabbath is the fourth commandment—one of God’s “Top Ten.” The Israelites of the Old Testament were tasked to keep these commandments, but they kept failing. Again and again, they fell short, so in attempts to keep the Israelites on the straight and narrow, the Pharisees began adding their own rules to these commandments to be sure the people were clear on what was okay and what wasn’t. The problem was, these extra rules weren’t God’s. So, when Jesus spat on the ground to make mud, He violated the Pharisees’ law because by their own definition, making mud was ‘work’, and work was unlawful on the Sabbath.
The Pharisees were so focused on obedience to God, they failed to notice God, and I can do that, too. When I begin to add more to what God has called me to do, I’m no longer operating in His strength; I’m depending on my own. Sometimes, we can expect more from ourselves than God does. Only He is perfect, but I expect that everything I touch must always be perfect all the time. Only He is in control, but sometimes, I feel like I have to micromanage everything to be sure the job gets done right. When I’m focusing on my efforts instead of on God’s goodness and strength, I’m no longer noticing God, and anxiety is happy to take over the driver’s seat.
We see the anger and anxiety building in the Pharisees’ response to the miracle. They relentlessly interrogate the man, hurling insults at him, and the man’s response is one of unwavering faith: “One thing I do know—I was blind but now I see!”
Incredibly, the Pharisees remained “blind.” They placed obedience over encounter and completely missed Jesus in the process. When overwhelm and frustration seem to be running the show, it’s a good indicator that we have stopped noticing God. In what ways might you be focusing on your own efforts rather than relaxing into God’s presence? Is there something you can let go of and release into the hands of our loving Father?
Day 5
Scripture: Matthew 7:9-11
It’s difficult to notice God when we’re running hard. Overwhelming circumstances and unmet expectations can rob us of awareness of His presence, and our good intentions can place us on a treadmill of anxiety when we begin to focus on our own efforts rather than on God’s strength. Learning to notice when we’ve stopped noticing God is powerful, but with so many things attempting to steal our gaze from Him, how can we fix our eyes on Jesus?
In 1 John 3, the NIV translation says, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” Lavished is such a great word—it’s extravagant generosity, unbounded giving. God is a good Father who loves to give good gifts! Some of these gifts are for the church; gifts that we can use to encourage and strengthen the body of believers. But other gifts He gives are just for us to enjoy—a sunrise, a conversation with a good friend, a quiet evening with a good book, or even a week’s beach vacation. These are things we get to enjoy simply because we are God’s kids. We often overlook so many life-giving things because we don’t view them through the lens of a loving Father who loves to give good gifts.
When we begin to view people, places, and activities as gifts from God, they take on a whole new meaning. They become opportunities for us to remember Him and bump into worship throughout our day. When we intentionally place these life-giving things in our lives, we provide ourselves opportunities to mindfully enter His presence with gratitude, reminding us of His extravagant love.
Scripture tells us to fix our eyes on Jesus; He is the author and perfecter of our faith. When we’ve stopped noticing God, chronic anxiety steps in with a message that it’s up to us to be the perfecters of our lives. Jacob used his cunning to steal a birthright and ended up on the run. Gehazi, overwhelmed by his circumstances, didn’t see a way out. Cleopas’s unmet expectations shifted his focus, and the Pharisees were so consumed with their own efforts, they missed God’s heart. The reality is: We will all continue to misplace our gaze. The stories of Jacob, Gehazi, Cleopas, and the Pharisees are our stories, too. But if we can intentionally move into regular experiences of love throughout our day, it can help us stay connected to our Heavenly Father. His gifts refresh us and remind us that we are so deeply loved, and it’s very difficult to be in the grip of anxiety when we’re in the grip of love.