Rivers & Robots - StillSample

DAY 4: Waiting for God alone.

Silence is uncomfortable for most of us. On a train or airplane, when things get quiet, we get fidgety. We tend to fill the space with digital noise—by glancing down at our phones or devices to add more stimuli to the moment. But these distractions can keep us from acknowledging the ache deep inside our hearts, the longing for something beyond, the hunger for more.

It isn’t until we sit in silence that we become aware of our deepest need. When Jacob sent his possessions and the members of his household away across the river and was left alone, he wrestled with God until dawn broke. In the wrestling, he came face to face with his own nature, admitting for the first time that his name was ‘Jacob’—the one who grasps. It was also in the wrestling that he came face to face with God, and God renamed him. But it was the silence and the solitude that made it possible.

When we leave ourselves alone, we are able to be honest—truly honest—about our brokenness. We can name our fears and our faults, our longings and our loves. And we can allow God to reshape them, to heal them, to bring them under His blessing. 

Will you give yourself some space today? Will you allow the Spirit of God to bring to the surface the things you are ashamed of? Not so He can add to your shame, but so that He can give you a new name.

You see, when we wait for God alone, and when we wait alone for God, we will find Him. And He is a fortress that cannot be shaken.

We are, as C. S. Lewis once wrote, ‘too easily pleased.’ We settle for false securities, for a cheap refuge in the busyness and noise of life. We cling to temporary attachments and passing pleasures. But if we would ‘send it all across the river,’ and find ourselves alone, then we can wait. 

And when we wait, we will find our salvation in God alone.

Take a moment. Be still. Wait upon the Lord.