In a world full of busyness – it has become harder and harder to slow down. Yet, wasn’t slowness the pace of Jesus himself? He never hurried to get from place to place and always took time for rest in the secret place with His Father. Over 3 days, we are learning how we can walk at the pace of Jesus – inspired by the SEU Worship song, “Slower I Go”.
Provident
Day 1
Scripture: Psalms 23:1-6
Rid Me Of My Quickness
“Rid me of my quickness, I’ll be soon to listen.”
Are you preparing to speed read right now? Glance through these words, click the button to go to the scripture, and then close out of your Bible App? We’ve all been there. Slowness is not our natural nature – especially when it comes to God’s word. We live in a world that values achievement, speed, accolades, and knowledge. Why sit and read your Bible when you can listen to it on the way to work? It’s like killing 2 birds with 1 stone right? Right?
But – is this truly sustainable? Is it truly helping us become more like Jesus? And ultimately – what would Jesus think about our quickness? Our hurry? Our rush?
Walter Adams said, “To walk with Jesus is to walk with a slow, unhurried pace. Hurry is the death of prayer.” And that may be our answer to the question above.
If you are still reading at this point instead of rushing along to the next thing – we honor you for that. We are so thankful that you decided to make an active decision to slow down. There’s no shame or condemnation here – just gratitude for your eyes scanning these words or listening to them out loud.
In his book, “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry” (a huge inspiration to us & a help in writing this devotional), John Mark Comer gives us all a glimpse into the timeline of time itself and how we became a society that lives and dies by our calendars and clocks. Interestingly enough, before the clock (what Comer calls “artificial time”), we simply listened to our bodies or looked for the sun to know when to rise. And next came Edison with the light bulb, creating the possibility to continue work after the sun went down. Comer presents data that before Edison the average person slept 11 hours. Now, at least in America, the average is 7.
While there are plenty of potential problems with this for our mental, emotional, and physical state – we want to focus particularly on one state: the spiritual. In their song, “Slower I Go” – SEU Worship sings the line, “Rid me of my quickness, I’ll be soon to listen”.
If you spend enough time on it – it’s actually an incredibly profound line. Unless our quickness is taken care of – how can we ever hear from God? When will we ever have time to listen to Him over talking at Him? Or perhaps – not even talking to Him at all.
Psalm 23:1-3 says, “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters, he refreshes my soul.”
There are so many places across scripture that discuss our Lord as a Shepherd and, we, as His sheep. It’s a comforting description, knowing that Shepherds were protectors and guides for their sheep – even in the most desolate places. Today, however, we want to dive into the word “refreshes”. Think of something that refreshes you. Perhaps it’s a cold sweet tea on a warm day. Or a nap after Church. Or some sweet alone time if you are an introvert! In our English language, to refresh can be so many things to so many people. Yet, if we dive into the Hebrew language, we will find that the word “refresh” is derived from the Hebrew word “shub” or שׁוּב which means “to turn back, to return”.
To return. To turn back.
Quiet waters. Green pastures. These two items are things of rest and provision. When the Lord refreshes our soul, we return to Him and His original design for us. He turns us back to rest.
We have to be willing to sit in the tension and ask the Lord, “What does rest truly look like for me?”
It’s okay if you haven’t rested a ton lately. Truth be told, we haven’t either. But today, we are making a commitment to let the Lord refresh our souls, to let the Lord turn us back to Him. We can only hear the Lord’s voice if we are willing to sit in His presence unhurried.
So, today, we challenge you to join us in taking 5 minutes to rest and just sit in the presence of the Lord. Set a timer on your phone and challenge yourself to just sit with the Lord and focus your thoughts on Him. You don’t have to ask Him for anything or pray anything at all. Instead – just sit in His presence and everything you feel. Let your thoughts wander – just speak Psalm 23:3 over yourself, “Lord You restore my soul.”
Come, join us right now, as we slow down our souls and minds to let the Lord restore us for the day or night ahead.
Then, go in peace, friends.
Day 2
Scriptures: Proverbs 19:21, James 4:13-17
Slow Feet, Slow Plans
As we sat down to write day 2 of this devotional – The Lord convicted our hearts to pause. What is the rush?
Isn’t it ironic that we are in the middle of writing a devotional on slowness and yet, we want to hurry through it – check it off the list? Yet, the gentle voice of the Lord beckoned us to take a 2 day hiatus from writing and just rest in His presence, do more research, and actually practice what we are preaching.
So here we are, taking a breath, and ready to discuss a special lyric from the song “Slower I Go” that says, “Slow feet, slow plans, steadfast in patience”.
We’ll be the first to admit that we fail at all 3 of those things. Yet, scripture gives us a true look into the nature of God when it comes to hurry and our plans: “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”
We can run ahead of the Lord. We can make hasty plans to move onto the next thing. Yet – they are all futile. The Lord’s purpose will ultimately prevail. So how much better would it be if we just waited on Him first?
In James 4, James (the brother of Jesus) discusses the idea of tomorrow and the plans of man. It’s a verse that can often be ignored or possibly worse, taken out of context. But today, we present it to you with a humble Spirit and recognition that we all boast in tomorrow even when we shouldn’t.
It says, “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’” (James 4:13-15).
We often find ourselves in this space. Tomorrow is not promised to us. We can run ahead of Him and create all of these plans about tomorrow – but ultimately His plans prevails. How much better is it if we slow our feet, slow our plans, and find ourselves waiting patiently on the Lord? How much better off would we be if we sought the Lord first and foremost?
Today, we challenge you to take a moment and think of the plans that you have ahead of you this week or perhaps this weekend. While it may seem trivial or silly – take a moment to pause and ask the Lord, “Is there anything in my schedule this week that You’d like to remove? Anything that You’d ’d like me to add in?”
That simple surrender is how we practice slower feet and slower plans. Go in peace.
Day 3
Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-2
The Slower I Go
“It seems as though the slower I go, the faster I arrive.”
One of the most powerful lines in SEU Worship’s “Slower I Go” is this one. It’s a paradox in itself that only Christ can be the answer to. Only through Christ would our slowness help us to arrive faster.
We try to rush and rush on our own constantly. We believe that we are the key to our success – and sometimes, we even try to rush through ministry to get on to the next ministry opportunity. But, think of it like this – sure, we could try to walk from the furthest point of North America down to the lowest point of South America. We could choose when we want to start walking. We could choose our own path. And we could start right away.
But doesn’t it make more sense to wait in the airport for the plane? Sure, you can’t get started right away. And sure, you have to wait on someone else to guide you.
But won’t you arrive there faster? Safer? Better?
And this is the way of the Lord.
But first, we have to slow down if we are ever going to let Him guide us.
Hebrews 12 compares our journey with Christ to a race – but it’s probably not quite the race that we are thinking of. Our race is much more of a marathon than a sprint and it’s not about who gets to the end fastest. A different type of race right? It may not be what you think it is but it’s infinitely better, trust us. Come and learn.
“And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” (Hebrews 12:1-2).
Through this scripture we learn that the race has already been laid out for us. We don’t have to guess where we are going or wonder what to do. We can ask the Father who already knows.
And more than that, this race isn’t about running ahead. This scripture tells us to fix “our eyes on Jesus”. How can we fix our eyes on Him if we are running ahead of Him?
We can’t. Instead, we have to run at His pace. We have to take a water break when He does. We have to tie our shoes when He does. We have to learn to pause and help another runner when He does.
One of the most profound things about Hebrews 12 is that the end of the race is not mentioned. Did you notice that?
We believe that this is because the end of the race isn’t the goal – it’s the race itself. It’s just like that old adage, “It’s about the journey – not the destination”.
So maybe, just maybe, we need to stop living our lives trying to get everything done as fast as we can. Perhaps the slower we go, the faster we do arrive.
Take a moment to bow your head this morning and pray with us (if you aren’t listening to this while driving!!)
Lord,
We confess that we are sinners who get it wrong a lot. So often we have run ahead of You trying to complete tasks – even ones for Your glory – without pausing to ask You what You think. Will You forgive us and teach us a better way? Lord, remind us in this very moment that it’s actually through slowness that we can see You the most. You crave to have us walk alongside You – not out in front of You. So Lord, would You show us this better way. Will You slow our hearts and teach us to have slow feet and slow hands, to be patient and wait on You? Let us arrive right on time with You – rather than without You.
In Jesus Name we pray,
Amen.