DETOURING INTO THE SABBATH

God answered the final prayer in my last post (asking God to help me fully abide in Him) by calling me to fast today, but i wasn’t as grateful about it as i should have been.  That’s because i had been planning all summer to repaint some of my cabin’s exterior trim which had peeled and cracked, but on one of the days i’d set aside for that very purpose, God has now called me to wait upon Him instead.  Had it not rained a bit this morning i probably wouldn’t have even been open to hearing His heart about that, but during my walk with Him while it was raining the Father made Himself clear about how He wanted me to spend my day, and so i reluctantly complied.  It fits with something He seems to be saying to lots of folks lately, calling us to seek Him first and let everything else get behind that.
 
As for me, the next few days may be the only window i have this year to get that painting done, so i kept hoping that it might suffice to spend only this morning waiting on God and then i could knock out most of the project in the afternoon.  But when God continued to remain still throughout the middle of my day, and i with Him, i started to feel frustrated about how i was using my time.  It seemed foolish to be spending a perfectly good day doing nothing.  Yet what looks foolish to the world is wise to God.  So i picked up my Bible and was quickly convicted by some of the things that Jesus had said.
 
Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.  John 5:19
 
Jesus is so devoted to the Father that when the Father is still, Jesus is still.  Yet here i was, yearning to get busy, so i confessed my hardened heart and prayed, “Not my will, but Yours.”
 
i haven’t been devoting myself to the Father the way Jesus does, i admitted; my obedience has been shallow and rooted in mere duty.  So i thanked the Father for calling me to account, and told Him that i felt His love in that.  It’s better by far that i wait upon Him than spruce up my cabin, for the former overflows with eternal fruit even when it doesn’t feel like it, while the latter is empty.
 
The great irony is that during our walk i had seen an amazing rainbow and it had reminded me that God turns all things to good, even my sin, as i fully devote myself to Him.  “When i respond to my trials with the devotion of Christ, blessing is sure to follow,” i wrote in my e-Bible upon my return.  It was such a profound insight that i wanted to blog about it - marveling that there’s no way to really lose because Christ is such a great redeemer - but apparently i wasn’t yet ready to write about it; the Father insisted i forego blogging and simply devote myself to Him.  But that proved easier said than done.  My i-Pad had to blow up before He was able to get my undivided attention.
 
But eventually God did get His way with me, and after several hours of merely waiting on Him, my heart finally softened a bit and i began to treasure His discipline.  Then He allowed me to complete one small repair project before He extended my fast for another day and gave me a green light to journal about repenting.  The blog about turning evil to good, however, remains on hold.
 
Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know.  But whoever loves God is known by God.  1 Corinthians 8:2-3
 
And so, as the sun literally sets upon this latest trial of mine, i begin my ascent into the sabbath.
 
My heart is not proud, Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me.  But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content.  Israel, put your hope in the Lord and wait upon Him, now and forevermore.  Psalm 131 paraphrase

Jesus is my sabbath.