Unclutter Your Soul: A 7-Day DevotionalSample

Trust God With Your Time

Waiting may feel unfair—someone else’s choices may very well have brought you to a waiting place, as Saul did to David, as Joseph’s brothers did to him. Waiting may make you feel ashamed because your own bad choice brought you here (cue Jonah). Waiting may make you question God’s promise and tempt you to take matters into your own hands as Abraham did. God was taking too long so Abraham ensured a son by way of a concubine. We all know the trouble that caused, not only within his family but also with nations.

God is faithful to His promise. He was faithful to Joseph and Abraham who did nothing wrong. He was faithful to Jonah and David who made bad choices. God will be faithful; it’s who He is. Trust Him.

I’ve found active waiting is a tug-of-war of the soul. My way. God’s way. My timing. God’s timing. My work. God’s work. My plan. God’s promise. The sooner we let go of the rope, the sooner we are able to stand up and follow.

Don’t be in a hurry. Overcoming is a process. Lasting change takes time. There will be days when you begin to question what it is you are even waiting for. Keep on. At times you’ll mistake God for slow. Keep on. He is never slow and always thorough. Other times, you’ll want to take matters into your own hands. Remember Abraham. Keep on.

When you feel stuck in the waiting, look for the invitation.

A surprising thing that I’ve learned about stuck—whether it is literal or hypothetical—is that it always comes with an invitation. Stuck asks if we’d like to meet stillness. It’s a quiet whisper of an invite, so quiet most people miss it. And it’s confusing because it’s easy to believe that stuck is a brute and a bully forcing stillness, unsuspectingly, on those who were just trying to live their lives.

But perhaps we’d be wrong to believe that stillness can be forced. Can you force a child to sit still? You can bribe them with ice cream or, perhaps, a consequence for momentary compliance, but ultimately, they must choose by an act of their will. Stillness cannot be forced; it can only be chosen.

I wonder if you’ve recognized how some welcome stillness while others fight it? Stillness is uncomfortable because it reveals what we have been avoiding, ignoring, and anesthetizing. It reveals our hopes, fears, and motivations. It reveals behavior, habits, clutter, and coping mechanisms. It calls us to keep company with our truest selves. Stillness, I believe, is anything but stuck because it creates movement in us. It moves us forward in a way that striving never could. It clarifies what had been confounding us, before we were ever confined, and how to move beyond.

In my temporary home, the Lord in His kindness taught me to be still—to choose stillness. All of me was worn down. I was weary from sorting through my clutter—no matter how many corners I’d turn, there was more. This seemed to be the unvaried design of the soul I was dealt. I could see the new square footage and an open floor plan full of potential; I just could not get there. I was ready for growth and for change, but God had me stay. Not to stay in my clutter—rather in the stillness. There were yet things that needed to be revealed.

In my stillness I read a story in the Old Testament about Isaac. He experienced a terrible famine in the land and wanted to go. Isaac had a plan to escape to Egypt. But God stopped him and said, “Don’t go down to Egypt; stay where I tell you. Stay here in this land and I’ll be with you and bless you” (Genesis 26:2, emphasis mine). Isaac stayed put. This was enough of a full-stop moment for me, as running was my escape of choice when feeling stuck. A new place, a new town, a new beginning to wrap up my endings—it sounded ideal. But what I began to understand, through Isaac’s life, is that the blessing isn’t connected to where we go; it’s connected to our obedience and God’s presence.

Stay put; I’ll be with you.

Because of Isaac’s obedience, he was so blessed in his work that the king wanted him to leave (Genesis 26:16). So Isaac left and returned to the wells that his father Abraham had built. He began to dig them up, only to find that his enemies had clogged them with dirt. It seems he did his own uncluttering by digging and clearing wells. After dealing with opposition, he eventually was met with “wide-open spaces.” In fact, that is exactly what the name of his final well, Rehoboth, means. He said, “Now GOD has given us plenty of space to spread out” (Genesis 26:22).

Do you see this?

My heart skipped a beat when I read those words, when I saw that stuck and struggle were not the antithesis of space—they were part of the process. God was not trying to hold Isaac back, constrict or constrain him. He was creating space. In the end Isaac made a covenant of peace with the king.

I always find it good to remember that God is not in a hurry with me; I don’t need to be in a hurry either. It’s His work to get me unstuck; it’s my work to choose to trust Him with my time.

Respond

Are you stuck? How, where, and why?

Write a note to Jesus turning the situation over to His care and expressing your trust in Him.

Prayer

Lord God, thank You that I can trust Your plan for my life today and tomorrow.