I don’t know about you, but I have found that I can be extremely impatient. In my early teens for example, I would become increasingly frustrated as I waited for my Nintendo 64 game (The Legend of Zelda – if you know you know 😎) to load; “why is it taking so long?!” I would lament, as I waited all of 5 mins for the game to to start up. Although this might seem insignificant, it is something that has followed me into my adult years, and if we are honest, is something that also affects many of us today. Impatience is intrinsically linked to another of my many qualities 😬: the tendency to rush things. A good example of this came after I had spent months researching for and writing my 15,000 word Masters dissertation; on the way to hand the unbound copy in to the Law School I noticed a number of flagrant typos on the first page! Although I had taken months to write it, I had rushed.
It is a known fact that people make mistakes and miss things when they rush; you can generally tell when a student has rushed a piece of homework for example (teachers back me up here), or an employee has rushed a project at work, but most would agree that rushing isn’t always a bad thing, right? Whilst this may be the case, I would argue that one area where rushing is always a bad thing is our spiritual walk.
This is again something that I have been guilty of, a pertinent example being when God gave me the idea for the devotional you are currently reading. I had recently attended a mentoring session with one of the pastors at my church, where one of the brothers mentioned that each morning he asks, “God, what you saying to me?” and writes down whatever God says. I decided that I was going to begin doing this (even though my parents had essentially been telling me to do this for years!). On the fourth morning God gave me this word and I thought “great! I need to hurry and get ready for work so I can share this amazing word that God has given me on every Whatsapp group I am on” (this really was my trail of thought – God is working on me lol 🙏🏾). Whilst rushing to get ready I heard God clearly say SLOW DOWN! How ironic is that?! God had given me a word about slowing down and I was rushing to do what I had always done: God gives word > David shares on Whatsapp 🤦🏾♂️- if you are on a group with me you WILL have experienced this.
Having been convicted of my overzealous tendencies and taken time to slow down and ponder, I felt God place the below on my heart. This will be the first installment of a three-part series.
“Give us today our daily bread”
“Give us today our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11 NIV)
“Why should I slow down?” I hear you ask. Well, because God wants you to. In Matthew 6, bang smack in the middle of THE greatest sermon EVER preached (sorry pastor Tope), Jesus is going to teach His disciples how to pray. In verse 11 He says “give us today our daily bread” and in doing so gives us His divine perspective on how we ought to do life. He doesn’t say ‘give us today, tomorrow and next week, all of the bread and other stuff we need to infinity and beyond’, rather His concern is that we look to God today. Jesus knows that God is more than capable of providing for all of our needs (Philippians 4:19 ESV). However, just like when God supernaturally provided manna from heaven for the children of Israel in the wilderness, and said
“… “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not” (Exodus 16:4 ESV)
His concern is that we trust and obey Him. God communicates to His People in the wilderness, the same truth that He reiterates over 1000 years later through His Son: He wants us to trust Him to provide for us today, on a daily basis.
Jesus restates His desire for us to trust Him for today later on in Matthew 6, after telling His hearers not to be anxious about their lives, but rather “seek first the kingdom on God and His righteousness”; He concludes by saying
“… do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:25-34 ESV)
Of course Jesus cares about our future, but He knows that worrying about tomorrow can rob us of our joy today; He knows that rushing ahead to tomorrow can result in us missing what God wants to do in our lives today. Jesus wants us to see life with Him as a collection of today’s, looking to Him everyday for our various needs, a concept that Selywn Hughes captures so wonderfully in the title of his devotional, “Every Day with Jesus”.
Arguably one of the most poignant expressions’s of Jesus’ regard for our today’s takes place on the cross of Calvary; in a touching scene, we see our innocent Lord and Saviour being crucified between two criminals. One of them recognizes who Jesus is and asks to be remembered when He enters His Kingdom. Jesus powerfully responds
“Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43 ESV)
Here we see a progression on what God had told the children of Israel in the wilderness, and Jesus had later reiterated in His sermon on the mount: as we look to God today, not only will He provide for our needs but He will also give us assurance of our destiny with Him. In a matter of minutes we see the destiny of a criminal, previously condemned to a life apart from God completely changed. This is God’s ultimate desire for all of us as we look to Him today; of course He wants to provide for our needs, but He is more concerned about our destinies. He wants to give you a new destiny today.
What Now?
The above is a snapshot of a journey I am currently walking with God. He is teaching me to stop rushing into tomorrow because He has provision for me today; wisdom for me today; a destiny for me today. Even whilst writing this I have had numerous urges to rush ahead and finish, but God has consistently reminded me to slow down. As a result, I have experienced firsthand what Timothy means when he tells us to
“Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.”
(2 Timothy 2:7 ESV)
“Think over” in the above passage refers to “pondering” which the dictionary defines as “to consider something deeply and thoroughly”. You cannot consider something in this manner whilst rushing. However, as we slow down and ponder all that He is saying to us, He promises to give us understanding in everything.
See you in part 2 ✌🏾
David this is really deep. Clearly you are on a journey with Jesus. Truly as the title of the late Selwyn Hughes devotional-Every day with Jesus. I pray this journey will bear fruit in your life. Thank you for sharing