Unforced Rhythms of Grace
Unforced Rhythms of Grace
Did you ever stop and think about a camel? That’s probably a strange question. Not many people do. But I confess, a couple of days ago, I started thinking about camels. Before you close this blog or hit the back button on the Internet, let me explain myself. I’m trying to diet. Notice I said “trying” to diet. That is rather non-committal, I know, but that is why I was thinking about camels. I just had breakfast and an hour later, I’m starving! So naturally I thought, “If I were a camel, I wouldn’t have any trouble drinking the recommended amount of water, and I could go days without eating!” In case you didn’t know, a camel can drink 53 gallons of water in 3 minutes! Wouldn’t that be a nice skill to have when you’re prepping for a colonoscopy? In the winter, camels can go 6-7 months without water. And after they build up the fat store in their hump, they can go 4-5 months without eating! Now I know for a fact that I have plenty of fat cells built up, but I can’t go one hour without food. Why didn’t God place that wonderful feature into the human architecture?
You’re probably wondering how those trivial facts about camels have any spiritual significance. There have been seasons in my life when I didn’t have tons of time to spend praying and studying the Word of God. I remembered times when I was barely holding on, when sleep was almost nonexistent, and finding time alone was nothing more than a joke. I thought about the guilt and condemnation because I couldn’t check off the boxes that would get me closer to hearing God’s voice. I remembered those days...and then I remembered grace. I forgot to tell you about grace.
What the hump does for a camel, God’s grace does for us. Every one of us experiences seasons when we can’t find that 30 minutes or an hour to “be still” with God. When you’re a mother, the only time you can “be still” is when everyone else is still, and you’ve collapsed from exhaustion. That doesn’t mean that you will never hear the voice of God until your children are married with kids of their own. It means that you discover the beautiful mystery of grace. Let me show you what that looks like.
Give what you have. I remember reading this story in the book of Luke about a poor widow who showed up to the temple to worship God. Growing up, we always referred to it as the story of “the widow’s mite.” This is not about some tiny bug that pestered some poor widow. The mite is a coin that in the Greek meant extremely tiny, like a crumb. Some “might” even think it is not worth stopping to pick up off the sidewalks of Jerusalem. But this widow received the praise of Jesus when she walked up to the offering box behind all the rich young rulers and religious leaders and emptied her hand of the only two coins she had to her name. It wasn’t about how much she had to give; it was about the motive behind her giving. Jesus praised her gift by saying, “Listen to me...This poor widow has given a larger offering than any of the wealthy. For the rich only gave out of their surplus, but she sacrificed out of her poverty and gave to God all that she had to live on.”
Jesus’ heart is touched when we come to Him, not out of an abundance of our time, but when we collapse after a day hard spent, hanging on to what little energy we have left, pouring our hearts out to Him. He calls us to come when we’re tired, burned out, carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders. He gently whispers, “I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it” (Matthew 11:28-30 MSG). There are seasons when we just don’t have a lot to give. That doesn’t offend Jesus. He isn’t clocking our quiet time on a heavenly timecard. He pleads with us to give what we have. That may be prayers whispered during late night feeding sessions with our baby, head nodding as we fight to stay awake. Jesus whispers, “Tell me all about it.” And resting in Him during those precious times is an exercise in grace. Just imagine what it would be like to let Jesus hold you while you are holding your child. That is exactly what Jesus wants to do for our soul.
Watch Him multiply. Remember the story of the 5,000? Jesus had been ministering non-stop, He had just received news about the death of His cousin John, and He needed to get away to spend time with His Father. But as soon as the people in the area found out Jesus was nearby, the crowds started pouring in. Sound familiar? Life is a constant wave of people and situations competing for your time and attention. When you think you have captured a few minutes alone to recharge or spend time with the Lord, the phone rings, or your boss texts with a new assignment, or the kids have a project due tomorrow morning, and it is 10 o’clock at night. It’s enough to frustrate the strongest of personalities. And we do exactly what Jesus and the disciples did—we start serving and working until time runs out and there is nowhere to turn. We are on empty. Like the disciples, we tell Jesus “There is nothing left to give. I’m just going to turn around, send all these people home, and follow right behind them.” Jesus didn’t excuse them. He didn’t open up the Heavens and rain down a banquet although He could have. He simply said, “You feed them.” I’m sure all 12 of them did a jaw drop. “You’ve got to be kidding? How are we going to feed over 5,000 people? We only have 5 loaves and 2 fish!” And I can hear Jesus say, “That’s how you feed them. Just give me what you have and watch me multiply it.”
I can’t explain it, but in those seasons of life when you just don’t have a lot left in you to give, God has a miraculous way of multiplying those moments spent with Him, regardless of how small. It doesn’t excuse us from positioning ourselves in His presence, but like the loaves and fishes, they all ate until they were filled and the disciples had 12 baskets of leftovers! Proverbs 9:11 says “For by [wisdom from God] your days shall be multiplied.” One way God does this is when we give Him all that we have, no matter how small, He makes a way to sustain us—give us more productivity and revelation. The secret is recognizing that remaining in His presence isn’t about finding a prayer closet or stealing away from the crowd (although it can be those things), but practicing His presence is realizing that there is never a time when I am not dwelling in the secret place of the Most High. It is a spiritual position; not a physical position. So anytime of the day or night, in the middle of the chaos, in the quiet of the 2 a.m. wakeup calls, I can position myself in that secret place. Imagine it like being relocated to a safe house, a place where the enemy can’t find you. That is what it means to dwell in the secret place of the Most High and rest in the Shadow of the Almighty. You are under God’s protective custody.
So let’s get back to the analogy of the camel. A camel can’t go months without water or food unless it drinks enough water and builds up the fat stores needed to sustain it during those lean times. This season you are in will not last forever. That is the beauty and the bitterness in seasons—you can be confident that they will always change. During those seasons when you have more time to devote to prayer, Bible study, and just being in God’s presence, take advantage of it! None of those times, none of those words will be wasted. The Holy Spirit will remind you of truths that you studied months or often years ago! That is the nature of Grace!
But what if you are a new Christ Follower, and this season is beating you down? You don’t have weeks, or months, or years of revelation to fall back on. You fall back on grace. I didn’t tell you what Jesus said at the end of Matthew 11: 28-30. Jesus encourages anyone willing to listen to “Learn the unforced rhythms of grace...Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Grace isn’t a hill to be climbed, it is a dance to be enjoyed. It isn’t forced. We usually think of grace for salvation, but grace doesn’t stop when we give our lives to Jesus. J. H. Jowett explained grace as “God’s holy love on the move.” I love that image! God pursuing and empowering us to live life every day! And Jesus says it doesn’t have to be forced! It is a rhythm, a holy dance.
Challenge For The Week
Give what you have and watch God multiply it. If you only have 5 minutes to spend, get the YouVersion app on your phone and read the Verse of the Day and listen to the Verse of the Day Story. Get the Word of God in your heart and mind. Don’t wait until you have more time to give to God. He just wants you!
Live in the constant realization that you are never separated from the presence of God. At any given moment, in any given place, you can slip away to that secret place. Ask God to show you that position in the Spirit. It isn’t a physical spot. You occupy heavenly real estate!
Find a podcast that you can listen to, even if it is only a few minutes at a time. Find a worship playlist that you can play throughout your day. So much of worship music comes straight from the scriptures and helps us align our thoughts and hearts to hear from God. See the bottom of the blog for some of my favorite podcasts and worship leaders.
Until next time...dive deep and drown willingly!
--Missy
Podcasts enjoyed by Inside The Circle:
Elevation with Steven Furtick
Life.Church with Craig Groeschel
Transformation Church (Michael Todd)
Social Dallas Podcast (Robert and Taylor Madu)
Fresh Life Church (Levi Lusko)
WHOA That’s Good Podcast (Sadie Robertson Huff)
Proverbs 31 Ministries Podcast
The Christine Caine Equip and Empower Podcast
Worship Artists enjoyed by Inside the Circle:
Benjamin William Hastings
Brandon Lake
Hillsong United
Maverick City
Elevation Worship
Red Rocks Worship
SEU Worship
Cody Carnes and Kari Jobe
Chris Tomlin
Phil Wickham
And I could go on and on....
