More Morsels than Mounds

04.05.15

Isaiah 30.15 For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” But you were unwilling...

It used to be that I spent a great deal of time and energy pigging-out reading through the Bible each year. And I was quick to point out to whoever would listen that I did so. There were times when I could quote the word, or certainly spout off something that sounded like quoting and help you to see just how dedicated to God’s Word I was. Today, I feel like I’m the meager container that Elijah told the widow to go and fill all her other containers so she could sell the oil and make just enough to live on.

So, today, it’s more like eating crumbs of bread than feasting at the table. It’s not that I don’t have the stomach for it; it’s just that I don’t seem to have the capacity for it. It’s more morsels than mounds. I mostly read the Psalms and the Proverbs these days and I stick to a devotional that has become precious to me. In the devotional today was the above verse: In returning (repenting) and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength. So counter-intuitive!

So, in brokenness and humiliation these days I’m learning to repent, and rest. I’m thinking that my repenting is my ceasing from leaning on my own understanding; and my resting is found in prayer. My prayers still need much work – there’s still too much laundry list to them. But my prayers are getting me to think about the more important stuff of life…I think…

And now life is more about repenting than it is revising. Life is more about resting than wrestling. And today’s morsel is more than enough: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”

The verse ends with this: But you were unwilling... What a sad reality. To be shown what to do and then not do it is a sad reality. Today I am left with repentance and rest; not inactivity, but immersed in holy activity: in repentance and rest from doing what I have always done where I’ve found myself in that place I’ve always been.

Lord, today find me willing to walk in a new manner on a new path. Find me willing to repent and rest in Your abundance today; in Your provision today; and in Your purpose. Father, I am glad for the abundance of a morsel of Your truth today to sustain me until I need fed again tomorrow. Amen.