Recently the Lord has been teaching me to be silent before Him, and wait for Him to make the first move, revealing His heart for me and the good work He’s about in the matters at hand.

I suppose the Spirit’s voice in this matter started during March Madness when I noticed commentators frequently saying something to the effect, “They’re doing well because they’re not forcing their shots, but waiting for the flow of the game to bring it to them.”  And then there was the incredibly strong impression my memory verse from Isaiah 30:15 made upon my consciousness, “For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, ‘In repentance and rest you will be saved, in quietness and trust is your strength. But you were not willing.'”

As I walk forward with the Lord in these days, I realize again how far too often an idol from the past is one I’d resurrect if left to myself. How often the thought escapes my mouth in some fashion, “If only I could figure out what He wants me to do, then I’d be at peace and would know what to do next.”

But I can’t figure Him out. I can only receive what He is willing to reveal – to give for the day at hand. I must rest in the goodness, acceptability and perfection of His choice of what to give me. Whatever it is, and however much it is, is enough. It will accomplish what He wants it to accomplish, not what I would accomplish if it were up to me.

“Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. ‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.'” Isaiah 55:7-11 (NASB)