First United Methodist Church Carrollton

I jumped out of bed this morning in a rush to get busy with things.  “Lord, I’m going to get a lot accomplished for you today!”  I often spend time in prayer before I hit the day, but this morning I am off and running.  Literally – I need to get my run in and even though it is usually my prayer and praise time, for some reason the entire time I was running I was going through the list in my head of what needed to be done.  I would try to pray in between naming items, but kept getting distracted.  As soon as I came in from my run I grabbed my day-timer and started scribbling notes of people to contact (check on Caroline, find out about Christ’s Foundry’s youth dinner last night, contact small groups, etc.).  I am bubbling with excitement for the day – people to see, things to do, places to go… and all for the Lord.

After my shower, I finally sat down to do my Bible study and that is when it hit me.   I was reading in Romans.  I had grabbed the Message version of the Bible this morning and the wording was just what I needed to make me relook at what I was doing.  It was talking about Israel, but it might as well been talking about me … And Israel , who seemed so interested in reading and talking about what God was doing, missed it.  How could they miss it?  Because instead of trusting God, they took over.  They were absorbed in what they themselves were doing.  They were so absorbed in their “God projects” that they didn’t notice God right in front of them, like a huge rock in the middle of the road.  And so they stumbled into him and went sprawling (Romans 9:32-33).  Oooops!  I suddenly realize that I have been so busy with my “God projects” that I really have not spent any time with God this morning… or maybe even lately.  Somehow I get in my mind that I am accomplishing things for God.  Yet God does not want what we can do for Him…He wants a relationship with us.  Often it is in serving God and spending time with the Lord that we grow closer and develop that blessed relationship with the Lord God Almighty.

The whole purpose is not to serve God, but to find God and to know Him.  Romans 9:33 goes on to quote the book of Isaiah:  Isaiah (again!) gives us the metaphor for pulling this together:  Careful! I’ve put a huge stone on the road to Mount Zion, a stone you can’t get around.  But the stone is me!  If you’re looking for me, you’ll find me on the way, not in the way.

God is always right in front of us.  We just have to be willing to open our eyes and look for Him.  We do not worship a hide-n-seek God.  Jeremiah 29:13 (NIV) says, You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.  So make sure in your ‘busy-ness’  of the day, that you make sure to take time to really seek the Lord and spend time with Him.  That is much more important than anything else you do.

Blessings to each of you,

Keva