We like to celebrate little milestones in our family.
JJ was 9 pounds when he was born, but then just stayed small. So when we heard he had finally crossed over the 10th percentile for his size at his doctor’s appointment the other day, it was cause for celebration!
And the best way to celebrate with our boys is french fries! So we decided to go out to Wendy’s for dinner that night.
As we loaded the boys in the car, I told them we were going to get french fries!
Hungry eyes widened and excited cheers erupted as we pulled out of our driveway.
We had barely gotten on the road when I hear little voices from the back:
Mommy, French fries?
Mommy I want fries!
Fries, mommy?
A chorus of reassurance-needy voices was unending all the way to Wendy’s. It was all we heard for the entire drive. I even tried to change the subject, but they just came back with, Fries mommy?
Yes boys, we’re getting fries!
Silence for a few breaths.
Then mommy, daddy, I want fries!
Not complaining. Not whining. Just genuinely making sure we knew.
It’s cute, except they were never going to get anywhere because they never stopped asking long enough to hear my reassurance to them.
I’d try to remind them where we were going and that yes we will be getting fries…but they never stopped asking long enough to really hear me.
This made me reflect on what my own prayer time with God sounds like.
Lamentations describes a much different stature we can take while waiting.
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’ The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” Lamentations 3:22-26 (ESV)
In this passage, Jeremiah has the strength and confidence to rest and wait for the Lord to follow through because He trusts that He is good to those who hope in him and that when He seeks Him he will find Him just as God promises.
So he is able to rest quietly for the Lord.
How about you? Are you in a place where you know and trust who God is so that you can truly rest and wait on Him in quiet confidence?
Waiting quietly isn’t being inactive, but it is resting in trust of the one you’re waiting on.
The word used for “quietly” in this passage more literally translates to “silence”. There is an important place for silence on our part while looking to God as we wait.
If all you hear is your own voice while waiting, you’re not going to easily build in confidence.
Asking God for what we need isn’t bad, in fact we are told to do so! We read that in many passages throughout the entire Bible, including Luke 18 where Jesus tells a parable of a persistent widow.
Next post, we’ll dive into bringing our cares and anxieties to God because He loves and cares for us.
But before we go there, God impressed on my heart the need for this quiet silence to be a part of our time with Him.
If our time talking with God is only filled with a list of what we need and why we need it and hope You come through, but never taking time to quietly listen and wait…
we’re hurting ourselves.
We’re depriving ourselves of getting to know the One we’re asking this of in the first place, which would in return build our confidence that He does and will always take care of us the very best way.
As I was praying over the weighty cares in my own life a short time ago, I was struck by God’s gracious whisper in my heart:
Christi, why are you coming to Me just to hear your own voice?
Ouch.
But it only struck so hard because it was true.
As we are still in the waiting room for Ace’s complete healing, there are nights I fall in bed crying out for God to come through as He promised and finish what He has started in Ace’s little body.
And in my desperate search for answers, I forget to stop and be silent to hear from the One I’m calling out to.
The times of most comfort are not necessarily filled with explanations of why we’re waiting this long, or God sharing with me when He will move. But it’s the times I sit quietly long enough to hear Him remind me He is still with us, He is in control, and He has a perfect plan.
All things that I know full well, but need to hear it again from His own voice.
What does your prayer life look like lately? Is it filled with the sound of your own voice with very little time of quiet to listen and be able to hear from the One you’re calling out to?
Would you describe your prayer time as quietly bringing your heart to God?
Or anxiously out of breath?
I am so grateful our God is eager to speak in our moments of expectant silence, turning our voices off long enough to hear His.
From one of His children to another,
Christi