Rob Witham

It is so much easier for us to be busy doing things than it is to practice just being. How many of us struggle to sit still and quietly wait for God for just a few moments? As we read the Scriptures we find that sometimes it takes days and even weeks of waiting and prayer to hear from God.

• Consider Daniel waiting three weeks for a reply because God’s messenger was locked in a spiritual battle awaiting reinforcements.
• Consider Jesus himself spending 40 days and nights fasting in the wilderness on a pre-ministry spiritual journey.
• Consider Elijah after Mount Carmel. Elijah spent 40 days and nights in the desert before finally hearing from God. Recall that when God did speak it was in a small, still voice. Elijah had to wait and listen.

We westerners tend to be in a hurry all the time and live by the clock and the calendar. We like to organize our religious or spiritual practice into neat little segmented places in our lives. Too bad for us God doesn’t choose to work that way!

God wants followers who will worship him in spirit and in truth. God wants a relationship with his followers and that is what he created us for. Relationships are messy, unpredictable and take time - and lots of it.

Read the Scriptures. You cannot come away with anything but the idea that God is far more interested in our being in his presence than he is in our doing a lot of things for him. We are called to BE before be are called to DO. There is clearly a place for Christian works - but if follows on the heels of being with God. The works and activity must come out of the heart. Too often we like to make the activity first and foremost and just figure the heart will come along sooner or later. It does not.

James chapter 2 discusses how works and activity are an obvious part of the Christian life - but note that James writes “Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself” (James 2.17 WEB). James is well aware that the works proceed from an internal and very real faith. James is not arguing against BEING - rather James is arguing that DOING properly and quite naturally comes out of BEING!

We do not please God when we do but forget to be.

• Consider the Pharisees. We too often think of the Pharisees in a negative light because Jesus so soundly ripped them apart. Actually they are a lot like most of us! The Pharisees were the religious people that cared about the Scriptures. They spent their time trying to preserve and protect God’s word. Unfortunately their religion got in the way of their hearts. Sound familiar? In Matthew 15 we find Jesus tearing the Pharisees apart for putting their traditions above God’s commands - something we do quite regularly. Note Jesus’ disciples comment to Jesus: Then the disciples came, and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended, when they heard this saying?” Jesus’ own disciples were amazed that God was not pleased with the Pharisees. The Pharisees seemed to have it all together - on the outside. Their mistake was they were always doing and did not spend enough time being.
• Consider Jesus. Jesus regularly chose being over doing. God walked in the flesh among us and every time his disciples turned around he was off by himself somewhere on a mountain or in the wilderness. Jesus recognized the importance of being with the Father. After being with the Father he would return to ministry and practice doing again.

I think one of the reasons we avoid being in God’s presence and prefer doing things for God is that doing may serve as an escape from the risky adventure of being. When we are doing things for God we feel a certain sense of control. We can always modify our schedule, use our calendar as an excuse, etc. When we practice being in God’s presence we really have no idea what will happen. Being in God’s presence tends to be risky, does it not?

• Consider the Transfiguration. Peter wanted to engage in ministry and build shelters for Jesus and the prophets. God spoke and told Peter to shut up and listen. It was time to be and not to do.
• Consider Noah. Noah “walked with God” - in other words, Noah spent time being in God’s presence. God spoke to Noah and told him to build an ark. Noah not only saved himself and his family but ultimately the entire human race. If Noah had been too busy doing he would have missed that opportunity.
• Consider Abraham. God called Abraham to tremendous adventure because Abraham spent time being with God and not always doing for God. Abraham was not called the friend of God (James 2.23) because he was always busy working for God. Abraham was called the friend of God because he walked and talked with God.

God is calling each of us to a great and risky adventure with him. But we need to stop doing sometimes to practice being. We may have been culturally conditioned to view sitting still with suspicion but if we want to know God we will have to start spending time just being. Afterward there will be time for doing.