Waiting on Time – Part 1

I’ve seen a quote floating around the internet that says, “God is not in a hurry. You are. It’s why you’re tired. It’s why you’re anxious, stressed and disappointed. Today, I pray you surrender your timeline in favor of His peace. Trust that what was meant to be yours, will be.” Unfortunately, multiple people have been credited with the saying so I’m not sure who its actual author was, obviously, not me. But it caught my attention because it’s those characteristics that stand in stark contrast to the true fulfilling joy that I’m seeking. It’s those overwhelming feelings of stress or tiredness or anxiety that keep me lost and searching for just a moment’s relief, they leave me wondering how I can actually access this “abundant life” Jesus promised.

If you had the ability to see the things that fill my social media or the devotionals I’m reading or text messages coming my way through the last several days and weeks, I think you’d see God isn’t just whispering this to me right now, He’s yelling it. I am not in control of time and how my days play out, He is.

Luke 5 tells the story of Jesus calling Simon, the fisherman, as His disciple. From Simon’s response to Jesus, we learn that he has been out on the lake, all night, fishing, and had caught nothing. This is surprising because fish are typically more active at night and they have a harder time seeing the nets at night as well. So if you are going to successfully fish, nighttime is your best bet. And yet, Simon had caught nothing.

The story starts by telling us that Jesus had been teaching along the shore but the crowd was growing and he needed to step back so more people could hear. Simon is there, coming in from the night out on the water, drying his nets and preparing to put it all away for the day. Jesus asks to borrow his boat in order to back up from the crowd. Simon agrees and in so doing, takes time from his day to submit to what the Lord wants to do. I’m sure he had a ton of things that needed to be accomplished that day but he lets Jesus borrow his boat instead. After Jesus gets done teaching, He asks Simon to take his boat out into the deep water again.

I love how Simon responds because at this time, Simon isn’t His disciple, he hasn’t seen Jesus do any miracles, he doesn’t really know who He is besides a traveling preacher, and he knows Jesus is definitely NOT a fisherman! So he’s like, “look man, maybe you don’t know how this whole thing works but I’ve been out there on the lake all night in the ideal conditions and circumstances, plus this isn’t my first rodeo, you know! If I didn’t catch any all night, we aren’t catching any now, after you’ve been preaching for awhile and its now the heat of the day and all the fish are lurking in the cool shadows. I’ve let you use my boat for awhile, can we just head on in and I can get on with my day instead of wasting more of my time?” All of this dialogue isn’t recorded in the scripture but that’s how it plays out in my head. It’s what I would have been thinking if I was Simon.

What we know now, that Simon didn’t know yet, was that Jesus was Messiah, and that meant that He could catch as many fish as He wanted, whenever He wanted. And that’s exactly what He does. He causes them to catch so many fish that their boat and the boat of their friends, starts to sink under the weight of all the fish! Simon and his friends immediately realize they are in the presence of someone different. Jesus calls them to follow Him and tells them they will no longer be fisher’s of fish, but fisher’s of men.

As an adult and especially a parent right now, I can quickly be overwhelmed with all the things that need to get done. The chores never end and someone always needs me for something. There are people to take places and then they need to be picked up, somewhere in there they also needed to be fed and then there’s bathing and doctor’s and house repairs and homework to help with and needs at the school and the community and the church. It’s easy to wake up in the morning, check my calendar and start working on how I will accomplish all the things that need to get checked off the list today. When we let our calendars dictate how we spend our days, we layer stress after stress upon our hearts. When we don’t accomplish everything, we put on shame and guilt. We become tired and anxious and depressed. We have the choice every day to decide if we are going to worship our man made calendar or lay our lives down again, in order for the Lord to do what He wants.

The lesson I see in Simon’s story is this: Jesus asked him to do something that seemed like it would be taking more from him, in order to bless him greatly. Just imagine if Simon had refused to go back out onto the lake because he was too busy. Simon would have missed those blessings but the many people who were affected and still are today by the miracle Jesus was able to do through Simon’s obedience would have missed that blessing as well.

In the book Jesus Calling, the devotional for February 10 is talking about spending time with the Lord. It’s talking about trusting the Lord when He asks us to sacrificially spend time with Him, meaning that something on our to do list that day, might not get done. It reads, “Refuse to feel guilty about something that is so pleasing to Me, the King of the universe. Because I am omnipotent, I am able to bend time and events in your favor. You will find that you can accomplish more in less time, after you have given yourself to me in rich communion.”

In my own life I can get caught avoiding conversations, or simply running from one place to another without really seeing the people around me. I start feeling like making it all work is all on my shoulders. I feel like the Lord is saying, slow down, breathe, take a minute to look around you. I have things for you to do today that you know nothing about yet. You will have to listen, keep your eyes and ears open and lay down your calendar in worship to Me. I know what needs to get done and what can wait. I will help you get the things done that need to be done.

I wonder if Simon hearing what Jesus was teaching caused him to go ahead and take chance on following Him out onto the lake again? When we take the time to be with Jesus, our hearts tend to be softer to His leading, our ears more attuned to His voice. Jesus is never going to expect us to never do the laundry, but when we are willing to live surrendered to His leading, then He can make laundry go faster if it needs to. Just like He can make hundreds of fish get caught in a net that was completely empty moments before. He has literally made the sun sit still in the sky before, He is not limited by time or science or creation. He created time, He’s in charge.

I pray that daily we can learn to keep our hearts soft to His leading and follow Him in obedience, especially when it doesn’t look like we have time to obey. I pray that my life would be full of little important, kingdom missions and assignments. I pray that I would be faithful to follow them and trust God to work out the timing in my calendar.

Your Fellow Traveler

lacey