Just Be In Awe

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“Just Be In Awe”

Ecclesiastes 5:1-2 NIV

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God.  Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.  Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God.  God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.

 

A few weeks ago this passage came up in church and it really spoke to me.  As I read these words, I thought to myself, “How long has it been since I just sat in silence before God and was in awe of Him?” 

 

I’m not at all against us bringing our concerns and requests to God.  He invites us to lay our burdens at the Cross.  However, we so often fill our time with prayers doing all the talking and rarely just sitting in silence quieting ourselves before Him.  How long has it been since you sat before God and just took in the silence?  Why don’t we do this more often?  Why??  Because it’s UNCOMFORTABLE!!!  We live in a “GO, GO, GO, GO, GO, GO” world and it’s very difficult to feel productive when we are just doing nothing but taking in quiet time before Him.  Plus, we have become accustomed to bringing our laundry list of requests before God without considering time to just sit and be still to listen.    

 

A couple of years ago I read the book “The Ruthless Elimination Of Hurry” by John Mark Comer and one of the things he mentioned that I’ll never forget was when you are sitting somewhere waiting for an appointment or something else, instead of pulling your phone out to occupy the time, just sit there doing nothing.  It’s hard!  Who wants to just sit in silence and do nothing?? No one!

 

I want to encourage all of us to find time and be very intentional in the coming days and weeks to find time where we just sit and do nothing before God.  Be in awe of Him.  Ask Him to speak to you and fill you with His presence and just be present before Him.  We definitely need to practice this more. 

 

Find some time soon and just be in awe.  Sometimes, our words need to be very few and we need to stand in awe of God.  He loves us bringing our worries, concerns and cares before Him, but He also loves when we are in total silence just taking in His presence. 

 

Just……Be……..In……….Awe

Facing Our Giants

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“Facing Our Giants”

1 Samuel 17:48

As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him.

 

Last week, we discussed the story of David and Goliath in our small group session.  I’ve read this story so many times through my life and have heard it in church through many sermons.  However, something always seems to hit you differently at some point in time about a passage you’ve read so many times in the past.

 

This verse really stood out to me in our study time together and I mentioned how the verse states David had no hesitation in running up to the battle line to meet Goliath.  This is a confident person who knew that God was with him and would help him conquer Goliath.  David had experience of trusting in God in the past and knew God would be with him as he fought Goliath.  He was confident and did what he needed to do.  Saul tried to put armor on him to help, but David didn’t need that.  All he needed was a stone and his sling.  Wow!

 

As I’ve thought more about this passage this week, I think about how all of us face giants in our lives that scare us to the point where we can’t face them.  Stress and anxiety hits us and we cannot even fathom facing our giants.  The enemy has as way of making us feel like the giants are way bigger than they are.  Don’t get me wrong, some giants are terrifying, but God is BIGGER than any giant we face.  That doesn’t mean the giant will just disappear because we have God on our side.  However, it DOES mean that God will give us strength, courage and endurance as we face the giants.

 

Often we get upset when God won’t remove a giant from our lives.  We have to remember that His ways are not our ways.  Although we cannot often understand what God is doing, we know that He is working and that He’s worked through us and with us in the past.  We have to trust Him and face our giants.  It takes much prayer and faith. 

 

I find myself dealing with a lot of giants in my life and I get stressed out and anxious easily.  I need to fully focus on God and pray for wisdom, strength and endurance through it all.  We can all be like David and run to the battle line to face whatever is in front of us staring us right in the face.  We can conquer with God’s help.  Running away from our giants will never solve our issues. 

 

I want to encourage all of us today and every day moving forward, to bring fears to God regarding our giants and ask Him for the wisdom, strength, endurance and confidence to face the giants head on and watch God do amazing things.