Slower I Go: Walking at the Pace of JesusSample

Day 2 - Slow Feet, Slow Plans

As we sat down to write day 2 of this devotional - The Lord convicted our hearts to pause. What is the rush?

Isn’t it ironic that we are in the middle of writing a devotional on slowness and yet, we want to hurry through it - check it off the list? Yet, the gentle voice of the Lord beckoned us to take a 2 day hiatus from writing and just rest in His presence, do more research, and actually practice what we are preaching.

So here we are, taking a breath, and ready to discuss a special lyric from the song “Slower I Go” that says, “Slow feet, slow plans, steadfast in patience”.

We’ll be the first to admit that we fail at all 3 of those things. Yet, scripture gives us a true look into the nature of God when it comes to hurry and our plans: “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”

We can run ahead of the Lord. We can make hasty plans to move onto the next thing. Yet - they are all futile. The Lord’s purpose will ultimately prevail. So how much better would it be if we just waited on Him first?

In James 4, James (the brother of Jesus) discusses the idea of tomorrow and the plans of man. It’s a verse that can often be ignored or possibly worse, taken out of context. But today, we present it to you with a humble Spirit and recognition that we all boast in tomorrow even when we shouldn’t.

It says, "Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’” (James 4:13-15).

We often find ourselves in this space. Tomorrow is not promised to us. We can run ahead of Him and create all of these plans about tomorrow - but ultimately His plans prevails. How much better is it if we slow our feet, slow our plans, and find ourselves waiting patiently on the Lord? How much better off would we be if we sought the Lord first and foremost?

Today, we challenge you to take a moment and think of the plans that you have ahead of you this week or perhaps this weekend. While it may seem trivial or silly - take a moment to pause and ask the Lord, “Is there anything in my schedule this week that You’d like to remove? Anything that You’d ’d like me to add in?”

That simple surrender is how we practice slower feet and slower plans. Go in peace.