You’re my place of quiet retreat; I wait for your Word to renew me. Ps 119:114 (MSG)
Linger in that place of quiet retreat, the peace-laden, fear-absent presence of God. Don’t be hasty. Wait.
A lot of us, myself included, can get into the habit of treating the availability of God like a holiday. We go when we desperately need rest, but then we leave it behind and to get back to ‘reality.’
But the reality is that we never have to leave the presence of God. It’s not a place we should be dashing in and out of every now and then when we’re in need of a break… The bible talks endlessly about dwelling, living and abiding in the presence of God.
John 15:9-10 (MSG) says, “I’ve loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you’ll remain intimately at home in my love. That’s what I’ve done—kept my Father’s commands and made myself at home in His love.”
We’ve become a society addicted to busy-ness. It makes us feel important and full. The endless pursuit of wealth, or even just trying to grasp enough to get by; keeping up with family and friends, expectations, sporting events, work, dinners, exercise, concerts, traffic, travel, cars, things, school, university, the office, the thrills, the stuff, busy…
Home can become a place we dump our stuff, instead of the place where we dwell.
We need to slow down, say no to the millions of things that want our attention. Focus. When you’re moving so fast it’s difficult to see what's next to you… everything flashes by in a wash of colours and sound. But when you stop, when you’re at home and the rush turns still and the noise is silent, you can truly see and hear all that surrounds you.
God is the same. Don’t rush in and out with Him. Make Him, His love and presence, your home. The place where you rest and recharge your soul; the kitchen where you find food, the bed you sleep in, the shower you wash in… “remain intimately at home in [His] love.”
In this place of quiet retreat, His words emanate from the furniture, the pictures on the wall and the music playing through the stereo… They surround you in this living home.
Wait here, listen, be still… His word will renew you.