Did your Mom ever give you a ‘time out?’ When you were disobedient or making life difficult for her perhaps you heard her say something like this – “You need to go sit on the sofa and get yourself together.” It might have just been a frustrated parent saying, “I need a break.” But, in the best world, it is a discipline aimed at forming some greater awareness, a way for the errant child to hopefully understand what he is doing and how he needs to adjust.
Did you know that God gives us a “time out” occasionally? He never just gets tired and puts us out of sight. His purpose is to help us grow in grace, to come to a place where we are better prepared to receive His will.
Part of the story of Jesus’ birth includes a kind of ‘time out.’ An older priest was selected to be the one who entered the Holy Place bearing incense, offering up the prayers of the people to a Holy God. It was a privileged honor, perhaps the only time he got to do it in his entire lifetime. While Zechariah was there, God’s messenger showed up telling him he was going to be a father, something that was naturally impossible given the advanced age of his wife, Elizabeth, and himself.
Luke tells the story. Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.” (Luke 1: 18-19)
Zechariah got a ‘time out!’ HE had nine months of silence in which to ponder his relationship with God, to think about his depth of faith and the experience changed him. Their son was born just as Gabriel had said. His name? John, the one we call ‘the Baptist’ who was the forerunner of Jesus. His father regained his speech the day he named his son, whose name literally means “The LORD graciously gives.”
Are you questioning God, wondering about His love, pressed by the many activities and responsibilities of life, especially in this Season? Give yourself a ‘time out.’
Tish Harrison Warren writes “Advent exists so that every heart can "prepare him room." And this preparation cannot merely be an abstract idea. We prepare Christ's room by rearranging our schedules to prioritize silence, contemplation, and reflection. That doesn't mean we have to escape to a monastery ... but the call of Advent is to make space and time to be healed and renewed, even if it's only for a few minutes a day.”
As has been said many times, our lives will be overtaken by the tyranny of the urgent unless we learn to put the important things first. God asks us, as His people, to keep Him first, to listen for the whisper of the Spirit and to walk in the Way He plans for us.
Finding that way will require time of worship, time alone to reflect, intentional focus on contemplative prayer. Perhaps you need to give yourself a ‘time out?’
Our word
from the Word is a simple prayer, first prayed by a little boy named Samuel, as
God called him to a lifetime of service. We would do well to make it our
prayer.
“Again the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and
said, “Here I am; you called me.” “My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back
and lie down.”
Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. A third time the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”
Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” (1 Samuel 3)
Here I am, Lord, listening and waiting on You. Amen.
