He was a talented pianist and had a nice voice. He was sincere as he led the music in our devotional. He closed his eyes and rocked back and forth as he performed. And the whole thing irritated me so much I wanted to run from the chapel!
It wasn't him; it was the song--a little three line ditty about sitting back and letting God love us. We sang it slowly and repeatedly and I thought it would never be over.
See, I'm not at a place where sitting back passively and waiting for God to come to me is good. God speaks and acts powerfully in my life when I am active and serving. When I move, God moves. When I wait on God, he waits on me.
However, before I get too critical of the aforementioned musician, perhaps I should explain that he is active in prison ministry. He works with guys who have little else to do but sit. Some of them have chosen to follow Christ, so when they sit, they read their Bibles, pray a lot, and sit back to meditate. Some of them have never known love, so sitting back and letting God love them is just what they need.
Life is like that. Sometimes we are weak and slow, so it is time to sit back and spend quiet time with a loving Savior. Other times we are strong and energetic, so it is right to move with God in service to Him.
It's a rhythm. In the book of Acts, the phrase "get up" occurs often, usually after a disciple has been praying for some time. First we sit. Then we move. Then we rest until its time to go back to work.
This sounds like a simple process, but I think we have problems that stem from working when we should be sitting and sitting when we should be working. So if we're frustrated or angry or just plain worn out, perhaps we need to make sure we're not trying to go against the rhythm.
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