(excerpt from post 9/20/06)
Isa. 30:15-21
This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. You said, ‘No, we will flee on horses.’ Therefore you will flee! You said, ‘We will ride off on swift horses.’ Therefore your pursuers will be swift! A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee away, till you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill.” Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
At a time when I am struggling to understand what I should do to be the person God desires me to be, these verses are very personal. Today there was discussion on prayers of silence. We practiced silent prayer. It is hard for me to grasp the importance of doing nothing. As I prayed in silence I was overwhelmed by the temptation to make it a time to be utilized to get something done. Earl Lavender commented: “Most of our lives are out of control because we are in control”. He also asked a question that I will need to consider seriously, “Is there a way of doing mission reactively rather than proactively?”