By David ReayMonday 2 May 2016LifeWords DevotionalsFaithReading Time: 2 minutes
Read Psalm 37:7
7 Be still in the presence of the LORD,
and wait patiently for him to act.
Don’t worry about evil people who prosper
or fret about their wicked schemes. (NLT)
Sometimes the best thing we can do is not do anything. There is such a thing as godly inactivity. When faced with the prospering of evildoers, the psalmist is advised to simply wait. Don’t go rushing in trying to pass a law to right a wrong. Don’t work yourself up in a lather of indignation that easily leads to bitterness. Don’t despair that your own relative lack of power means you can’t single-handedly mount your white charger and make everything as it should be.
There are times when we have to sit back for a time at least and let God do his stuff. We can’t fix up the problems of the world simply because we are so often a part of the problem. Some of us are activists who figure that we have to be up and about frantically trying to make things right. If we don’t act, then who will? The psalmist has the answer: God will.
Of course there is a time for action, a time to move in the power of God and in response to his urging. But this will come after being still before him. Any great work of God is first formed in stillness. Rushing around trying to do God’s work for him without first figuring out what that work might be is an exercise in futility which masquerades as Christian activism.
The world has much in it that needs to be put right. It needs saving from itself. But that is not part of our job description. Our job is to discern what God is doing and get in on it as he bids us. It is not to pursue our own agenda and assume God is breathlessly trying to keep pace with us as we busily seek to change the world on his behalf. Waiting on him is not apathy but rather a belief that he alone knows what needs to be done. In other words, doing nothing can be a form of doing something.
Blessings
David Reay