Our spiritual being needs dedicated times of respite to regain focus & clarity.
WRITTEN BY TIM LABRECHE
I absolutely love sitting in God’s creation and being still. Especially in the morning. I love hearing the rustling of leaves blowing in the wind. The sound of birds singing their praises to their Creator is one of my happy sounds.
Like many other people, I often feel the presence of our Creator heavily when I’m immersed in His creation. Recently I sat and listened to what the Holy Spirit wanted to share. This is something I haven’t done lately and have been recently convicted by the Holy Spirit of my need to make this a priority.
So there I sat. I sat and enjoyed the sounds of silence. I heard the rustling of the leaves in the trees behind me. The cascading falls before me were rapidly bustling and bursting over the rocks. The Canadian geese that surrounded me had already started talking amongst themselves about how good their creator is while they rummaged for breakfast in the grass.
As I enjoyed what was surrounding me, I opened God’s Word. As I’ve been reading the New Testament book by book in order, that days chunk of scripture for me was in the beginning of Hebrews. In chapter 4, Paul speaks about entering a Sabbath-rest for the people of God. By reading the entire chapter we can see that Paul is speaking of the eternal rest that comes with salvation in Christ, but we also need to be purposeful in pursuing times of rest here on earth. Paul writes in verses 9-11 of chapter three of Hebrews:
There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.
Just as it says, we must make every effort in finding rest in our Father’s arms. In those times of rest, in times of solitude, is when we can hear clearly from our Father in heaven. These times are most beneficial when we are free from ANY distraction that will pull us away from what our Creator wants to whisper to us.
Throughout scripture, we are referred to as the flock of our Heavenly Shepherd. In John 10:4, it says that the sheep follow their shepherd because they know his voice. That’s what times of solitude are for; they are times of quiet respite for us to hear from our Shepherd.
Personal Reflection & Application
Will you join me? Will you make every effort to find time to rest; to be quiet and let our Savior whisper His words of life to you? I’m looking forward to what lies ahead for all of us in this journey.
There are some easy steps to starting to find rest:
- Find a place where you can be comfortable, but away from distractions and foot traffic. Phones, televisions and desks where you work are often filled with distractions. Where is your place? Is it on the patio? Is it that one comfy chair in the corner of the basement? Wherever it is, dedicate it as a place for solitude.
- Breathe deep to start to put your body into a physical place of rest.
- Start your time in prayer. Commit your time to Christ and boldly ask him to come along side and rest with you.
- Being still isn’t something that comes naturally to us. It’s okay to ask our Heavenly Father to join you in your time of silence.
- Don’t think you have to say anything. It’s okay to just be still and wait for the Holy Spirit to do what he wants to do. This is probably the most difficult part of sitting in silence for most people.
- When you believe your time is over, end your time with a brief prayer of thanks to your Heavenly Father.
