As the Spirit lingers...

"When a text grabs our attention, we must allow it time to do its work. The Spirit's use of the sword of God's Word (Hebrews 4:12) to pierce into our deep places and bring about sanctification and transformation doesn't always fit neatly into a daily devotional time or a Bible reading plan. Sometimes we need to clear our devotional schedule and linger over a text and wrestle with it, and probe into it, and let it probe into us. Unhurried meditation is what leads to the mind's transformation (romans 12:2), which leads to behavioral application, which leads to lifestyle transformation. Such meditation may only require ten minutes, or it may take ten months. However, the Spirit leads, linger." John Piper

Having 3 babies in 3 years has rocked my 'quiet time' needless to say. I have learned that I rest very well in uninterrupted early morning times with the Lord, and that when those moments are interrupted, that I wrestle with the shaken peace I feel as a result. I have harbored bitterness over early wakers, resentment on comparison of other families who don't have them, and I have been disconnected from the Lord out of my attempt to control that 'sacred hour of quiet time'. These past few months have restored my weary soul so deeply having all 3 kiddos sleeping till 630 and I have had a solid 5-630 in the Word. Sounds so peaceful as I have had my own time to drink an entire cup of hot coffee without reheating it, time to listen to sharpening messages studying Scriptures, prayer time with my husband, and time to journal. My responses toward my day then extended out of a restored, sustained, and encouraged heart. Then my precious 2 yr old figured out a 5am wake up, to which he opens his door, and finds his brother and sister to also wake them up. My hot coffee becomes cold, my scripture reading becomes 1 scripture instead of a chapter, and no quiet moments for prayer time. So, this morning, I brought in my crew, gathered them around a Veggie Tales episode on Jonah and sat in front of John Piper's words written above. "However, the Spirit leads, linger." 

Isaiah 46:4 (NIV) version was my linger. 

"Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you, I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you." 

ESV version sustain is voiced as carry. Sustain is also mentioned as 'I have made, and I will bear.' 

This chapter is on Idolatry and how God is teaching the people to have an eye to God in his Word, not in an image. That they should depend on that and GOd's promise to accomplish them all. 

V. 10- "My counsel shall stand; and I will accomplish all my purpose." 

As I lingered on these 2 verses this morning, I felt some truths I have been meditating on resonate in this interrupted quiet time for me. 

 

*  In my painful times, God is strengthening me- In my peaceful times, God is restoring me. But all the time, God is loving me.  

ps. 55:22 tells me that if I "Cast my burdens on the Lord, that He will sustain me, He will never permit me to be moved." 

It is so easy for me to miss the point as I fixate on my restoring times to be quiet, to be in my scheduled control, and to be  the necessity for my day in order to respond in grace. But my spiritual life is sustained by his grace as necessarily and constantly as my natural life by his providence. 

Read a simple, yet profound statement to my heart: "God does not call us to a place, He calls us to Himself." Back to Isaiah 46, I had created 5am solitude with the Lord as my idol, the image of the connection with God I valued as my place. But this week has reminded me that God is a person, not a place of time, but that His Spirit lingers with me thru all interruptions. 

Time is IN His hands- He created it- He bears it with me- and He sustains me in His Word no matter how long of His words I receive in a day. He bears the interruptions, rescues us from its impact, and sustains us in life in Him, despite the circumstances at hand. 

In this season, my interruptions for that sacred hour is little feet hitting the ground running, but I yearn to feel that place of God in Himself and not in my hour. But, that as Elisabeth Elliot voiced, "The heart set to do the Father's will need never fear defeat." Interruptions in my quiet time is not defeat, but its a moment in time where God is teaching me how to linger in His Spirit. 

Time affects so many things: Bad news can devastate an hour to linger with a paralyzing difficulty to focus on God's Word and in that time, the Spirit lingers. When a busy schedule affects the length of time to stay in the Word- meditate on it, study it- the Spirit lingers. His counsel stands no matter the stopped moments in the day. He accomplishes His purpose. 

SO, no matter how your day begins and no matter how it ends, God loves you every second of the day. He holds you steady not because you stop, but because He is the Great 'I AM". He never changes, He never forsakes, He always extends His Steadfast love. 

If you are reading this, know that I am praying for you. I am praying for how God is teaching you to linger in His Word. For it holds the pursuing heart of our Lord, Our Savior, our Rock and our Fortress. His Word holds all of His promises that He will accomplish. Let it linger in your day- be it 5 minutes or 1 hour and a half. Time holds no merit for who we are in Christ and for His purpose in our life. He stands as the foundation for everything. Stand on His rock to hold you as hours feel less. Know that the place is not your identity but that God as person, is the relationship that pursues with no restraint on time. Set to do the Father's will never fearing defeat.