Busyness

It is uncomfortable to have nothing to do.  Most people do not like to wait long periods of time, and many do not like to wait short periods of time.  The busier our lives become, the more senseless waiting seems to be.

When I was a child my parents bought a “push button” car.  It was fascinating.  The image of the dashboard with all the silver buttons came to mind the other morning when the Lord asked me “What drives a person?”  He linked this question to “I know what buttons people have and I don’t want satan to push them.”  The Lord wants our motivation for what we do to come from Him and not from our enemy.

What happens when God is silent, and we are stuck waiting, with nothing to do?  For those whose habit it is to follow God’s leading, anxiety may set in.  And anxiety exerts pressure on our inner man.  There cannot be peace nor joy in an anxious heart.

“You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.”   (Is 26:3)

A man who waits on God for His leading can either “stay” his mind on God (wait), or his anxiety can cause him to look at the buttons on the dashboard of his life for one to push so he can get going.  If a man chooses the latter he will also justify within himself the course he has chosen.  We as humans are full of reasons for the things we choose to do, and they become our justifications when the Holy Spirit tries to tell us we have chosen the wrong road to travel down.

Once we have justification in our heart for going ahead of the Lord’s leading, our heart begins to divide.  Our formerly content heart that was satisfied to know God by following Him now has given space to that side of us that cannot stand to be still.  The former heart coveted relationship with God; the latter covets things to do.

It is not wrong to be busy, but when you consider that the original invitees to the wedding feast turned the Master down because they were busy, we see that doing things just for the sake of being busy is not a good thing (Lk 14:18-20).  I believe that Jesus was a busy man, one that worked faithfully until His Father’s will was done.  But the key to Jesus’ relationship with His Father was that it was His Father’s will that Jesus did, and not His own.

After we push a button on the dashboard of our life we set in motion spiritual events that we not only cannot see, but do not know about until later.  Our enemy sees that we like to be busy and pushes the “be busy” button.  Since the activities that we meet while traveling down the road of busyness are not initiated by our Lord, we become more and more distant from Him. 

“You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” (Lk 16:15)

Most Christians compensate for their lack of relationship with God by adding more justifications.  Only this time they are not justifications for what the person wants to do; they are “maintenance” justifications.  These new reasons for what they are doing are what keeps their lives going in the wrong direction. If we like the buttons that are being pushed, we eventually grow to love the direction we are going in.

Satan pushes the “be busy” button to bring increasingly more and more distance in the relationship between us and God.  The distance will also grow in our relationships with others.  But people have the ability to become efficient, even if they are going in the wrong direction.  This person will do one of two things; he will either love the great and efficient person he’s has become and justify it as being God’s will, or he will hate the burden of being busy all the time and of having no meaningful relationships.  These two directions will cause either pride or bitterness to take place in the heart.  Either way, the man going down the wrong road will lose.

God does not watch His people travel down the wrong road and do nothing about it.  He tries often to re-direct us.  “The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways, but the folly of fools is deception.” (Prov 14:8)  If we seek Him for wisdom He will guide us, even while we wait.  But if we justify ourselves for going ahead of the Lord, we deceive ourselves and will go down the wrong road.

God’s re-direction may come from a person who speaks to us, or a book we read.  If we do not turn around, then hardships may come into our lives.  “God disciplines us for our own good so that we may share in His holiness.” (Heb 12:7-10)  When God is able to return us to the right road it is just as much for the journey as for the destination.  He wants to travel with us.  God wants to heal us of having buttons that, when pushed, interfere with our journey (life’s works) and our destination (destiny).

When God causes us to wait on Him it is not meant as a punishment.  The trial of silent waiting can unite our heart to follow the Lord, laying down our own preferences in this life.  God has our good on His mind.  Today, while you wait on the Lord, wait in that perfect peace that will cause the pressure of anxiety to leave.  Amen.