Sit with Me
In this season of Lent, I’m feeling a desire to grow closer to God. Last week, one of my fellow bloggers wrote a post about resting in the Lord. Our lives are so busy, it seems it’s hard to just take the time to spend in prayer or reading God’s Word. Each day since Ash Wednesday I have set aside time to read the scripture in my church’s Wordstrong reading schedule for Lent. They are pretty short passages, but still I have found myself at the very end of the day finally sitting down to read the scheduled passage before crawling into bed.
How did life get to hectic and busy that we find it hard to spend time with God? Now, it’s not that I don’t think of Him often throughout the day, and lift up a prayer here and there when I think of it; but it does seem like so many other things are allotted so many more of the 24 hours in each day than I devote solely to God.
My friend’s blog reminded me of the song “Sit with Me” by Revive. This video of it includes an introduction to the meaning behind the song by the members of the band, plus a bonus rendition of “Chorus of the Saints” at the end:
That is what God really wants from us: To set aside our busy lives and just sit at His feet to learn and worship. Even Jesus spent time alone with His Father every day in prayer.
Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. Luke 5:15-16 (NIV).
In spite of the throngs who crowded about Him clamoring for healing and teaching, Jesus was always at peace. By His actions, He taught us that communion with God is so important so that the rest of the time we will feel at peace and will not be swept up in the stresses of life. There will always be demands on our time and resources; we can’t ignore our responsibilities and spend every minute at the feet of Jesus. But we can set aside a significant portion of each day to just sit with God so that He may instill His peace and truth in our hearts to be with us when we face the challenges of each day.
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I’m going to re-start my morning Bible study, it really is one of those things where once you get the discipline and get down to it, you wonder why on earth it took so long to get going again!
That’s awesome! I know I started a regular discipline of kneeling in prayer in the morning about a year ago, and the difference it has made has been tremendous. And yes, I wonder why it took so long. May the Lord bless you as you sit with Him. Peace, Linda
The demands on my time and resources are very small. I have nothing but time to study and pray. But I’m in a terrible dry spell… I think since I started reading more blogs and writing about God myself, I somehow think that “counts”.
I know better… have been blessed with long periods of steady prayer and its rewards.
Now I pray for motivation, crawl into bed in an Ambien fog, and tell God I’m sorry for not doing a better job staying close to Him. I feel like this really restricts the power of the prayers I say for others…
I pray that this post would be a good reminder and motivator to set aside that time each day…
Linda, I can relate to the tendency to think reading blogs and writing my blog “count” for spending time with God. And my one day when I have all the time I want to spend with Him – Saturday – I tend to spend too much time online and writing blog posts for the week, and completely skip the prayer time I wouldn’t dream of skipping on a weekday morning. Peace, Linda
I am very glad I found your blog – resting in the Lord is something I am trying to learn (with little success…..)
much love,
char48
Thank you for stopping by and leaving such a nice comment. I looked at your blog a bit this morning, but didn’t have time to comment. I will be back. Peace, Linda
Thank you, Linda, for this post and the songs! I thought I hadn’t heard of Revive, but then when they sang “Chorus of the Saints”, I’ve heard that one and love it too.
This is a tender subject, isn’t it? I feel guilty sometimes because God does allow me time to just be with Him. Not everyone has the type of situation that I do to have that time. I find that I really, really need that time and feel like I spend more time listening and just being with Him then I do praying at times. so need even more time for prayer. It’s kind of a balancing act and when you are working and caring for your family, that is not an easy thing to do.
God bless you as you are at His feet, in your heart and mind, even when you can’t sit!
Deb, I have no doubt you are making good use of that time just sitting with Him! I’m a little bit jealous, but really just rejoice that you have that because He knows you need it. Peace, Linda
Thank you, Linda.
I like what you said about other things being allotted into the 24 hours … I find it easy to book meetings and appointments and interviews for blocks of time yet the time I ‘set aside’ for Him bottoms out.
I’m learning to make a conscious effort to daily spend time with Him even if I just sit there and force my mind to quiet before Him. Is it easy? Not at all! Is it worth it? Most definitely!
Praying I’ll get to the point where I daily allot time for Him instead of slotting Him in at the last moment. We often spend so much time doing everything for everyone else that meeting with Him takes the back seat. 🙁
Thanks for the song!
Learning to balance,
ann
Ann, I find that when I do start the day by setting aside time for Him, the rest of the day goes much more smoothly and seems less hectic (even if it really isn’t!). It is definitely worth it.
And I just love the band Revive. I first saw them when the opened for Third Day and have been a fan ever since. They are coming to the Pacific Northwest at the end of this month, but both venues are a bit too far for me to go. 🙁 I’ve been posting on their Facebook page trying to get them to do a Portland gig, but so far one is not scheduled. They actually follow me on Twitter, so maybe they’ll see this and schedule something nearby after all. 🙂 Peace, Linda