Grand Sweep Daily
Isaiah 28:13 (NIV)
So then, the Word of the Lord will become:
Do and do, do and do,
Rule on rule, rule on rule;
A little here, a little there –
So that they will go and fall backward,
Be injured and snared and captured.
Isaiah 29:13: (NIV)
The Lord says:
These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips,
But their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.
Isaiah 28: 16: (NIV)
So this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed.”
Good morning!
Am I ever in deep do today! I sometimes get so busy doing, that I forget about being. Am I only giving lip service to faith? Is my heart in sync with my mouth? Will following the rules alone pay my admission into His presence?
How I love the Lord’s poetry! He speaks to me today through the words of the prophet Isaiah. There are times when I find myself checking off the line items on my “to do” list in my Outlook calendar. Do you keep a cheat sheet of your daily agenda? When I go to work each day, I have an ever-growing list of daily objectives and goals. There is work to be done as I come prepared with willing hands and a determination to meet the goal! I begin to populate and check off my “to do” list as I move through the hours of the day. Then, I leave my work behind and I head to school, hoping the professor will be able to sweep some of the cobwebs from my hard head and keep me engaged and alert, as we purpose together to expand my brain cells. Have you ever tried to sit through a four hour evening class after working an eight hour day? Lord, have mercy on me.
I leave school, thinking about the dishes in the kitchen sink, the phone calls I need to return to my children and my mother, and the stack of bills to be paid. I’m looking for a block of time to just hang out with my husband and enjoy some precious moments with the one I love. I get home and check the answering machine and e-mail messages from my faithful friends. I’m out there every day, living life large, following the rules, keeping my to-do lists intact, and forgetting that what God wants most of all from me is my undivided attention, love and devotion. Oh, to eek out a few extra hours in a twenty-four hour period!
We get so busy doing all the things we think we must do in order to earn His grace – we lose sight of what it means to simply be in His presence. We cannot earn it, no matter how much we try. We long to be wrapped up in the joy of intimate relationship with the Lord. It’s impossible to be intimate with anything or anyone that we cannot make time for. Many of us are willing, but if you are anything like me, it is probably hard to find a few moments just to escape at the Lord’s feet, just to sit in silence and adore Him.
Our worship and our daily lives becomes one large mess of do. We need to stop doing. We desperately need to be in His presence. It is that longing that makes me want to eek out a secret moment here and there; time when I can simply slip away to enjoy the power of His love over my life. There is nothing more healing than the moments I spend in prayer and praise, worship and study, listening for His still small voice to speak. I live for those precious moments every day, and I’ll do anything to find a little time here and there just for Him.
I’ve been known to crawl under my desk at work and take a thirty-second prayer break. I type best on my knees and the lower I get, the larger He becomes. My lame and meaningless words pale in comparison to His Word. We need to stop doing, and start being. We must find our life not in the things we do each day; rather, in the One who gives us daily bread, our every breath, and everlasting love.
Are you in deep do this morning? Where is your cornerstone – that sure foundation? Take a minute, take several minutes, take an hour if you dare, and let the Word of the Lord speak to you through the prophet Isaiah.
Grace and peace,
Deb Spaulding
Pray for: lip service to become your heart song. How much do you really love the Lord? Stop doing and start being. He is waiting for you to come into His presence, to sit at His feet and worship Him wholeheartedly. Let go of your agenda, and grab hold of the Master. Are you so busy doing that you have no time to stop and simply be in His presence?
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© Copyright 2007, Deb Spaulding
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