My second semester here at UNCG began today, and with it came the familiar busyness that I was able to avoid over Christmas break. With the new year, I started a new devotional, My Upmost for His highest, by Oswald Chambers. I was going through Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young in 2013 and this new devotional has a freshness to it that I needed. For the past two days the daily devotional title was this: “Have You Ever Been Alone with God?” The first part of this, which was in yesterday’s devotional, was subtitled “Our Solitude with Him.” As I read I came across one of the many quotable lines that this devotional is littered with on every page that I have read so far. “We can only be used by God after we allow Him to show us the deep, hidden areas of our own character.” Chambers further explains by relating how Jesus interacted with His disciples, to how he interacts with us in the same way. Pulling text from Mark 4:34, Chambers communicates that Jesus did not give His disciples all of the answers right away, but only when they could understand what He was saying. So first, we as followers of Christ are called to accept the calling that we have in our lives without knowing all of the time where we will end up or what trials we will have to face. This takes trust, and trust comes only when we are intimate enough with Christ to trust Him. It takes, as Chambers puts it, that we must accept that we do not understand ourselves nearly enough as our Creator knows and understands us. Once we accept that we are better suited to follow where Christ leads us rather than where we could lead ourselves we begin to change.
I always thought that I was doing quiet time correctly with God. Reading devotionals, the bible, and praying with Him. I have indeed reached an intimacy with Jesus, but this devotional has been opening my eyes and opening a path to allow me to grow even more intimately with Christ. The second part of “Have You Ever Been Alone with God?”, which was today’s devotional, was subtitled this: “His Solitude with Us.” Another quotable line starts off the devotional: “When God gets us alone through suffering, heartbreak, temptation, disappointment, sickness, or by thwarted desires, a broken friendship, or a new friendship- when He gets us absolutely alone, and we are totally speechless, unable to ask even one question, then He begins to teach us.”
My heart leapt through my chest when I read this. I have indeed been in awe of the Creator in His presence, without words. But after a few moments of basking in His glory I would begin to pray and interrupt that river of peace and grace that was flowing into me. This happens often, and I still get a lot out of my quiet time, but I am realizing that I have been missing a crucial part. When I read that line today it immediately drew my thoughts to Psalm 46:10. “Be still, and know that I am God.” I never knew how to be still because I am so often in a distracting place when I do my quiet time, (too ironic to joke about) I will sit in a coffee shop with my headphones in and read the Word and pray quietly. But I have been missing the opportunity to be still, and let God be God. Of course God wants us to study His Word diligently and praise Him with song, but this devotional has and is opening my eyes to the truth that sometimes the highest form of worship and obedience that I can give to God is by sitting in His glory and just listening for what He puts on my heart. That is where I will come to know Him more and become more like Him. If you are looking for a devotional I definitely recommend My Upmost for His Highest, it has, in only thirteen days, greatly increased my intimacy with Christ. God is good.
Growing In Christ 