Recently, as I was seeking the Lord, I heard these words — No rush. God was speaking to me about slowing down. Interestingly enough, that’s the opposite of what the world says — speed up. And today, with all our gizmos and gadgets, it seems everything we’re doing is trying to speed things up not slow things down. But God, He’s calling us, me, to slow down and stop trying to rush things. And when I heard God say those words — no rush — and applied them to my life, what actually happened is I was able to get more done. So today, I was to encourage you to do what God told me to do — to stop rushing, slow down, spend time with him, and stop trying to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. There’s no rush.
Now, that doesn’t mean things can’t be urgent at times. But it does mean that we shouldn’t allow the constant urgency around us to do infiltrate our lives that we miss what’s important in life. And often, I think that’s what really happens, people, even those who follow Christ, allow life to pass them by. And in the end, we miss the things that are really important in life — faith, family, friends, and doings those things that make life matter. Often, those things can pass us by in a moment of time and we miss the truly important and valuable things about life that we’ve been given. Jesus didn’t have that perspective. Rather, He said, “I must work the works of him that sent me”. John 9:4, KJV.
That was Jesus’s purpose for His life. And He invites us to make that our purpose. In fact, that verse in John 9:4, in nearly every other translation, it says, “we must do the works of Him who sent Me.” John 9:4, Berean Standard Bible. In other words, there’s a “we” in Jesus’s statement not an “I”. In other words, Jesus invites us into His purpose — to do His Father’s will, be about His Father’s business, do the works of Him who sent Him. And that calling is still ringing from heaven for everyone who will hear it. Yet often, we don’t hear His calling; rather, we hear the call of the world, the cry of the urgent, and yes, the tyrant of the moment. Like Jesus, we need to fix our minds and hearts on the Father’s will for our lives.
“Stop trying to do the will of God the world’s way.”—Scott Wallis
That means, doing things differently than the way those in the world do things. The world wants to keep us constantly going, speeding up, rushing to and fro and here and there. Always going, never arriving, never stopping, and never slowing down. That’s the world’s way; it’s not God’s way. In fact, Jesus tells us not to do things the world’s way. He says, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me [following Me as My disciple], for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST (renewal, blessed quiet) FOR YOUR SOULS.” Matthew 11:29, Amplified Bible.
In some ways, that statement really is Jesus’s first discipleship lesson for us — stop trying to do God’s will the world’s way. But some of us can be slow in getting what Jesus said. We strive, struggle, and rush everything. For us, everything’s a rush job. Jesus didn’t do things that way. For Him, He was never in a hurry. Think about that for a second, He could have come at any moment in history, and yet, He chose a moment where things weren’t rushed and people weren’t rushing everywhere, all the time, all at once, as we do today. No there’s a quiet trust and patience that we learn from us, a place where there’s no striving. Instead, there’s absolute faith in God.
Faith doesn’t rush. Faith takes its own time. Jesus didn’t allow circumstances to dictate His schedule. Rather, He followed the Father’s schedule. In John 11:6, God’s Word Translation, it says, “when Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was for two more days.” Now, Lazarus was dying. In the natural, if there was ever a time for Jesus to rush, it was then. But He didn’t rush. No, He stayed where He was for two more days. Then, He says to His disciples, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up.” John 11:11, NLT. The disciples say to Jesus, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will come out of it.” John 11:12, NASB. Yet, that wasn’t what Jesus was saying, rather, He was saying, “Lazarus is dead.” John 11:14, NLT.
Lazarus was dying. But Jesus didn’t rush. Mary and Martha were rushing to get Jesus to come so their brother, Lazarus, wouldn’t die. To them, death was the end. To Jesus, death wasn’t a limitation or a life sentence. When Jesus arrives, Martha, not Mary, meets Him. She says, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.” John 11:21, NLT. In other words, if you had only rushed to help us, my brother wouldn’t have died. I think both Martha and Mary were thinking the same thing. Mary, the Bible says, “Mary stayed at home.” John11:20, NIV. That says a lot. She was the one who sat at His feet and listened to His teaching while her sister, Martha, was busy working and serving. Now, it’s Martha rushing to see Jesus in faith. She says, “Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” John 11:22, NASB. What a role reversal.
Is it possible that Martha remembered what Jesus taught her, “All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves.” Matthew 11:29, HCSB. When we think there’s only one way, and we don’t wait to do things God’s way, we miss the great blessing of being able to rely on Him. Martha didn’t rely on herself, she trusted in Christ. Mary she was home disappointed that Jesus hadn’t come earlier. “When Mary came to Jesus and saw Him, she fell at His feet and said, ‘Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.’” John 11:32, Berean Standard Bible. In fact, Martha told Mary that Jesus was calling her.
How often we become disappointed because God doesn’t do what we think He should do the way we think He should do it. I remember when I was living on the apartment I rented in Elgin on Woodland Avenue. It was a nice place, but a little run down. I was at the point of being evicted. On the Saturday before the eviction, I went to a prophetic conference where I was looking for a word, “My Son, the check is in the mail and it’ll be there Monday.” Now, I did receive a prophetic word, “My son, I have called you as My prophet. I will take you and thrust you out to speak My Word to the nations as a clarion”. On Monday, I was evicted, and that night I was sleeping in my car in the dead of winter in Illinois. God didn’t rush to save me, as I wanted. But He did provide a beautiful place overlooking the Fox River on the Gold Coast of Elgin later that week. Did I like the process? No! Was it necessary? Evidently, yes.
God doesn’t have to rush things. He’s not in a rush. We, on the other hand, can rush things and we can be in a rush. Why? We’re subject to time. God’s not. God operates outside of time, is not subject to time, and has His own schedule for doing what He does. God wants us on His clock not the world’s clock. I want to ask you: Whose clock are you on? Yours? The world’s? Or God’s? In God’s timing, everything works out well. As it says in Ecclesiastes 3:11, KJV, “He hath made every thing beautiful in his time”. Notice, it’s in His time that everything becomes beautiful. Time is subject to God. Time serves God’s purpose. God doesn’t serve time. Time isn’t God’s master. Time is God’s servant. Remember that!
Let us pray!
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