Recently, the Holy Spirit has been drawing my attention to the fact that I have been letting the world, the everyday and the busy become distractions and draw me away from Him. I have been slipping into an attitude of complacency. The seemingly immediate needs of the day-to-day demand my attention and my desire for security, for rest and for significance creep in. Despite feeling the pull of the priorities of the world in recent times, I have also during these times heard the persistent voice of God calling me home, back into His presence.
Through the work and words of His people, God has been reminding me that He is ever-present. By asking me to reflect on Him and His nature, God has been using His word and these words to remind me that He is faithful. God asks me to worship Him, with my words, with my actions, in prayer and with song and by this has reminded me of who He is. By using His church to share their experiences of Him and with Him, God has been reminding me that He is the God of all generations and of all nations. By exposing me to sadness and to stories of circumstances which break the heart of God and of man, God has reminded me that He will also hear my cry and that He is sovereign.
How can we solve this
As I have been reflecting on the influence of the priorities of the world on my life, I have seen the love and faithfulness of God in my life. Throughout the bible, including in the account of Joshua, God tells us that He will not leave nor forsake His people. Even when we get distracted by jobs, families, friends and hobbies, our God who created the universe and our God who is sovereign over all things uses His people, His church, our testimony to each other, our experiences and stories of both joy and sorrow, and creation itself to call us back to Him.
The Holy Spirit prompts us to cry out to Him, to lean into Him, to seek out His people, to join together in worship in reliance on the promise of James 4 v 8 that when we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. If you find yourself in a situation like mine, when the world is pulling at your attention, take a minute, stop and listen, be still and know that God is there, calling to you, hands stretched wide, waiting to draw you back into His arms.
By Karla
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