An Inner Restlessness — Morning Devotions

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Transcript

There’s a scene in the Oscar nominated movie back in 2019 called Sound of Metal. The movie is not for everyone, it deals with some disturbing subjects like substance abuse, unhealthy relationships, and recovery. It’s the story of Reuben, a recovering addict and a drummer in a punk metal band who loses his hearing.

He enters a deaf rehab facility to learn to navigate this new lifestyle that he’s been thrust into, but he has a hard time with recovery. He hasn’t learned how to sit in silence, so the person in charge sits him down to have a talk with him. Reuben kept trying to avoid addressing the emotions and feelings he was dealing with, by distracting himself with handyman jobs he could complete.

But Joe, the supervisor says something that says it all.

You don’t have to fix anything here, he said. Joe is trying to help Reuben to be present in the moment, not jump to the next thing, to stop distracting himself with activities and projects, but to be still and silent.

He wants him to explore and discover who he really is without any judgement, and this would help him.

And I think this is what God invites us to do.

Our times with God are not a time of fixing things but of slowing down enough to be still and present in the moment with Him. It was the Catholic priest and theologian Ronald Rolheiser who said in one of his books, We, for every kind of reason, good and bad, are distracting ourselves into spiritual oblivion.

Pathological busyness, distraction, and restlessness are major blocks today within our spiritual lives, and I like that. Have you ever stopped to think of everything that you’ve missed out on because you were too driven, you couldn’t stop to reflect on life?

Helen Keller once said, the best and most beautiful things cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.

But you must stop long enough to feel what’s going on and to see that which is beautiful. A gorgeous sunset, for example, is quite startling, but you have to stop and give time to watch and wonder at its beauty. Have you ever had that experience where it’s almost impossible to sit still even if you want to? Many people describe it as an intense physical agitation or being driven.

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And of course there’s anxiety that wells up inside if you’re feeling uncertain or worried. That feeling of wanting to move on is very common. You get frustrated, and I think that’s more common than we realise. And who can forget the haunting words of Anne Frank writing as a teenager locked away in an attic during the World War II, hiding from the Nazis. She was jumping out of her skin with the anxiety of an artist, and she simply said, I want to be everywhere, all at the same time.

I’m not saying that all restlessness is bad or negative. Much that is good in our world has been achieved by people who are restless, not satisfied with the status quo. Augustine, and perhaps the most famous words of them all, called it an incurable restlessness that God has put into the human heart.

He wrote, Lord, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.

And another of the all-time great works of Christian devotion was the imitation of Christ, and Thomas Okempis offered this prayer:

Grant me, Lord, above all else to rest in you that my heart may find its rest in you alone, for you are the heart’s true peace.

It was King Solomon in his Old Testament book Ecclesiastes. He’s put it another way. God has made everything suitable for its own time, but has put timelessness into the human heart.

So that human beings are out of sync with the rhythms of the seasons from beginning to end. That’s a contemporary translation. Reading the biblical verses from Ecclesiastes is still relevant today. Not a bad idea to do it. I wonder if we could take encouragement today from the psalmist in Psalm 94. I said my foot is slipping, but Lord, your faithful love kept me from failing. I was very worried, he said, but your comfort brought me joy. That’s Psalm 94:18-19.

Let’s Pray

Heavenly Father, I have to admit that restlessness is part of me too. I look for other things to stimulate my mind and my thinking when I should be turning to You in prayer. And Lord, I just pray that each of us will do that today. Stop, reflect, and ask You, dear God, to come into our hearts afresh, to quieten us down and to be amazed at all things that You’ve created around us. Amen.

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