The beggar on the street cries out for help in just one glance, I must help.
The woman on the bus has eyes of sadness, I must help.
The church needs a nursery worker, I must help.
They need people to clean and set up and tear down, I must help.
Suddenly I am exhausted, I feel useless and worn; I am confused and frustrated.
........
Work, work, work. This is what we do- if we do not work enough we are selfish and slothful. Our father has given us hands for a purpose, our minds for a purpose! Use them!
And so she does, Faith wakes up in the morning with a list already forming in her mind. Her guilt levels rising because she knows she cannot do all the work that needs doing. But He requires it- He will help her get it done because it is what He wants. So, she sets her hand at the plow and gets ready for another frustrating seemingly fruitless day, but it is okay because she knows in the end- it will be worth it, He will smile and say, "Well done!"
She opens the Word and reads, "Be still and know that I am G*d, I will be exalted among the nations." She thinks to herself, "Yes, YES! He is G*d, now I must exalt him among the nations! And yet again she sets her hand to the plow and finds herself frustrated at the end of every day.
She is confused.
She is frustrated.
She does not understand why the harder she works, the more frustrated and unhappy she becomes.
This is his work after all- it was supposed to bring fulfillment!
This goes on for years and her very soul becomes weary of this tiresome ordeal. Her joy is almost gone and she does not even really enjoy the work anymore that once looked so fulfilling! She begins to look for more work- surely she is not doing enough.
"If I could just find that one area that no one else is working on and I could work on in and fix it- then I would be eternally satisfied and my father would be so proud of me!" she thinks to herself.
What she does not realize is that no matter how hard she works, no matter what kind of work she does, she will never be fulfilled by it.
You see, her father looks at her and says, "Why are you working so hard?"
"I want to make you smile! I want you to be proud of me!" she replies.
"But I already am! I was proud to call you my daughter, you never had to do anything to make me proud of you. Will you come and sit with me? I just want to sit with you a while."
"I will later, but right now I have to finish what I am working on- it is for you! You will be so surprised how much I can accomplish. I could not do it without you, though- thank you for all your help!"
"But you are missing the time we could be sitting here watching the tide come in and go out, the time to feel the warm sunshine on your skin and the gentle breeze across your face. I have something very special for you here. Come, sit with me?"
"There is just too much to do here now; there will be plenty of time for sitting with you later, you know that! I only have a little bit of time here to get all of this done!"
And off she goes again away from her father to work. He looks after her with sadness in his eyes- he knows how much she is missing.
This conversation happens often and still she does not understand that he really does just want to spend time with his daughter! Finally, one day she is sitting down- exhausted and frustrated- really at the end of herself. She puts her head in her hands and shakes her head. She looks up for a moment and catches the glimpse of something beautiful.
It is a promise.
She has seen it many times before, but there is something different about it this time, almost like she was blind before to it's beauty. She looks a little closer and it says, "Be still and know that I am G*d, I will be exalted among the nations!"
It is like a key has turned and finally she sees it! I will be exalted among the nations... He does not need her help for that- He can do it all by himself! He really does just want her to sit with him for a while, He really does just want to spend time with her and talk with her. When work needs to be done, he'll take care of it- He might do it through her, but she does not have to keep working so hard, she just needs to be still.
"Be still and know that I am G*d; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."
He does not need you or I to accomplish anything, you see- He is G*d! He does not need any of us, or any of our works. "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away."
"Yet, O L*d, you are our father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand."
How can clay ever be molded if it is constantly jumping around, trying to mold itself? The answer obviously is that it cannot! It musts be still and know the potter's touch.
Do you know the Potter's touch? When he asks you to come sit a while with him, do you?
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