When I set out to blog, I made the commitment to be transparent in my writings and never sugar-coat the stories of my faith journey. It is easy to write about the good things that God does in our lives. Yet when we slip or when things aren’t working out quite as nicely as we would like, we can easily gloss over or ignore a significant part of life that likely carry’s meaning to many, simply for the sake of putting up a good front. Today I am compelled to share a recent chastisement from the Lord. Partly this is to highlight an aspect of God’s nature that is often mis-characterized. Also, it is because the trap I fell into is very easy to slip into even if it is hidden in plain view.
In my last post, ALL, I wrote about Jesus’ declaration of the greatest commandment and what our love of God with all that we are looks like. What you don’t know is that I wrote that a week ago under what I sensed was the prompting of the Holy Spirit. But I hadn’t quite finished it. While we have had a lot transpire in our family over the past week, there is no reason why I didn’t finish the post sooner. I had clear nudges to do so, but I kept busy and I kept putting it off.
For much of my life I have risen early to spend 1 – 2 hours in bible study, prayer, and occasionally blogging. But for the last week I would wake up very early, usually before my alarm would go off, with a strong sense of needing to spend quiet time with the Lord. But I would reason that I could pray just fine snuggled in my warm bed. Somehow one or two sentences in prayer would occur and the next thing I knew it was an hour or more later. By the time I would arise, it was time to start the day’s activities. Needless to say, my attempts at a quiet time were rushed, stilted, and not really a time of connection. It was more like a child rushing through the kitchen late for school, snatching at whatever they can for breakfast before sprinting out the door. It might have the appearance of eating breakfast, but nutrition it was not. My quiet times had become like that – an appearance of the right thing, but connection with God and edification, it was not.
Tuesday of this week I did respond to the nudge. I was up early and I got into the Word. Afterward I slipped outside where a light rain was falling. With an awareness of my lack of direction lately I whispered a prayer, “Lord, please steer me.” Immediately the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart, “The boat has to be moving for the rudder to work.” Oh my! I am used to God’s encouragement and gentle correction, usually when I turn in repentance after I realize I have made a mistake. In this case, I had been a little lazy for several days, but I assumed that getting up early was a good sign on my part. The rebuke was firm, clear, and thankfully cut through my self-satisfaction.
Since our relationship is with the omniscient God, there is no hiding our true thoughts, feelings, and motivations. If we are not careful, we can slip into self-deception and “think” we are fine. But, getting into the Word, spending real connected time with the Father is the antidote we all need. When we do, He will guide us into the way of truth and life. And if we need more than a little nudge, He can provide that too. The important thing on our end is to embrace His loving nudges and His firmer chastisement and follow Him diligently. It ties into the last post. When we are giving Him only part of our attention, part of our heart or soul or mind or strength, we are falling short of His high calling upon us. It is not God who is lessened when we are not fully devoted to Him, but us.
Friends, I pray that your walk will be marked with consistent progress and Godly joy and peace. But, when you do begin to veer off course, I encourage you to readily accept and embrace the Lord’s loving correction, however He may give it. He loves you with an everlasting love. He knows you intimately and His desire is always for your good. Jeremiah 29:11 affirms this. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Be blessed my friend. And be God’s blessing to someone today.
areliablefaith 
If I might suggest… set your INTENTION – the biggest part of anything you do as it is the energy behind it – to be a “moving meditation”, that is, to be in constant dialog with the Divine… not only when in quiet time, which is a good thing, but constant dialog with the Divine is even better. It can take a bit of practice but setting the Intention lays the foundation. And when you get good at it, then God can give you guidance on the fly, right in the moment.
And also be open and receptive to synchronicities. The Divine is ALWAYS communicating with us, not just when we are still and quiet. Just keep yourself open and aware.
And ha! I love this:
“The boat has to be moving for the rudder to work.”
The Divine taught me this one though the use of my dowsing rod which I use to communicate with God (sadly almost a must these days after many years of energy work for this planetary ascension).
When using a dowsing / divining rod, you get it moving and it either stays on course or deflects, perhaps giving you a “yes” or “no” answer or what have ya. Well, I get it moving… and the Divine can then direct its movement. And yep, that guidance delivered does indeed serve as my rudder.
And asking questions of the Divine (ask and ye shall receive) is the same. It’s you holding up your side of the conversation, doing your part. By asking the question you ready yourself for the answer so that you recognize it when you see it. But there again… you gotta get it started.
And one has to learn how the Divine is speaking to you and… go figure… the Divine will often use your own “language”, your own way of expressing.
Sounds like you have a good solid DIRECT connection to God… and it can only get better, especially when you so desire that connection. Good / God for you.
😉 Blessings.