What do you do when you want water?
Who will I marry? Is the guy I’m dating the one? When will we get pregnant? Should I take that job offer that will lead me to a new location? Should I look for another job since I am dissatisfied in my current position? Should I get involved in that ministry that I’m interested in? Are you leading me to be a missionary? Which path should I take? What do you want me to do God? Phew, I am actually tired from writing those questions, and I could add many more questions to the list, and I am sure that questions came to mind of your own. And they are actually really good questions to ask, because it shows the desire to be obedient to Him. But have you noticed that sometimes He isn’t quick to answer? Yup, you know what I mean. Instead of an answer you are met with silence. I desire to be obedient so when I get silence instead of answered prayer it can be frustrating. Silence makes me want to try harder to hear from Him. That is where I have been for the past 6 months or so. Trying to discern His voice. Trying to chase Him to know what He wants to say. There have been times when I was so sure of what He was saying, just to go back to being confused shortly after. So I kept trying. Do you know where this left me?
What do you do when you want water?
I was in church a couple weeks ago when the silence and trying I had been facing for months came to a head the morning after a devastating parenting moment when my 2 year old said the “f” word. My 2 year old said the “f” word. I was heart broken. I was horrified. It broke me. I was done. I was done trying to figure out what He wanted me to do and how He wanted me to proceed through uncertainty. I was done trying to ask people close to us to watch their language in front of my son. I was just done. So there I am sitting in church and “Oceans” comes on. I think I made it through about the first two lines of the song before I had to leave crying. (Can I blame that on pregnancy emotions?) And that is when I realized that I was tired of trying. I was tired of chasing God for answers that He didn’t want to reveal to me yet. So there I was giving up trying, and you know what? The pressure and exhaustion that I was feeling that had built up over the frustration of not getting the answer to prayer that I thought I needed came off. Cast your burdens on Him, for He cares for you.
“My soul will rest in your embrace. ”
Have you ever seen a toddler who was in desperate need of a nap? They turn into mutated versions of themselves! Little rascals… That is kind of how we are when we don’t rest in the Lord and try to do it all in our own strength and in our own timing. Imagine what it would look like if we all went through life like little toddlers who didn’t get their rest. We so often carry things that we were never intended to carry. This is not how God intended it to be. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light. We need to rest in Him, and let everything that we do be done out of that rest. This is so simple, but so complex when we try to wrap our earthly minds about it. This is a rest that doesn’t need to strive, but it thrives because it is a rest born out of faith and a trust in God through Christ. The trust that He is sovereign, that He is faithful, that He has it all under control even when we try to find the answers.
“Come to me, all who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest.”
Matthew 11:28
Water is something that we need daily to survive. When we don’t drink water, the effect can
make us tired because lack of water can stop the body from functioning at its best. If Christ calls Himself the “living water” what do you do when you want water? Do you chase the river trying to get that drink because you are so thirsty? Or do you sit and drink? I love that God always gives us what we need opposed to what we think we need. I was chasing God for direction, and what He wanted me to do was rest. Maybe the answer that you are trying to find isn’t the answer you think you need. Maybe, just maybe, God wants you to rest in Him. Sit. And. Drink.
