“When you don’t still, you react. When you don’t, first and foremost, purpose to utilize the strength of stillness — there’s no way to pay attention to who God is, or to your location, or to what your soul deeply wants. . . . Where there’s no cruciform, truly reaching toward the one true God and others, but only incurvatus in se, this curving inward, there is always only going wayward to a hell of your own making.”- Ann Voskamp
“GOD, your God, is leading the way; he’s fighting for you. You saw with your own eyes what he did for you in Egypt.”- Deuteronomy 1:30 (MSG)
In Chapter 13 (“Open Heart Surgery”) of WayMaker, Ann Voskamp talks about what happens when you examine everyone else’s soul, but fail to examine your own. As a result, you find that your own failure ends up suffocating you as you sleepwalk through your days. Therefore, you need to covenant your life in daily doxology. Or the dark of entitlement devours your one and only life. And you won’t even know it!
But, we reason, if we don’t take care of ourselves, who will? However, curve into yourself long enough and you wind up tripping yourself. Even if you’ve witnessed God at work. Hence, the author counsels:
“Clearly: You can be a firsthand eyewitness to God’s work and still not trust God to take your hand and make a way. You can say that if you saw miracles you’d trust God, but we have and we don’t, and the Israelites had and they didn’t, and seeing is not believing, knowing is not living, witnessing is not trusting.”
In conclusion, Ann notes, the Israelites’ problem ran deeper than not trusting God to take them to the Promised Land. Above all, they didn’t trust God to take care of them. And God’s heart broke because the Israelites didn’t trust Him to take care of their hearts (emphasis Ann’s). Thus, we need to trust Jesus. He walks waves, the author underscores, on whom you can cling.
Today’s question: What Scriptures help you purpose to utilize the strength of stillness? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Clinging to Him like a belt”
