God Slows Us Down

Sometimes God slows us down. He creates quiet time for us when we think we should be doing something else. Just as he stopped other people in the Bible in their daily lives, He stops us in the middle of our routines. When He does this, He is turning us away from worthless things in the world, and wanting us to read His word.

Psalm 119:37 “Turn my eyes from worthless things, and give me life through your word.”

It is our job to recognize when God is turning us away from the things we think we need to do and listen to Him. We may not always recognize when He wants us to take a break because we want to stay focused on whatever it is we are doing. We may get aggravated at the situation rather than seeing it as a message from God.

When the Internet goes down temporarily, we may spend a few hours trying to get it to work again rather than taking that opportunity to stop and read God’s word. We may miss the opportunity to really meditate on God’s word and think about how He wants us to apply it in our lives. We should look at a disconnected Internet as an opportunity to connect with God.

When we are caught up in traffic or in long lines in the store, we may get aggravated and spend our time thinking about how we are going to be late or what all we have to do. We may spend our time texting on the phone, checking email or playing a game while we wait in line. But God tells us to turn away from these worthless things and He will give us life through His word. We need to spend that time meditating on His word.

There are times when we have to drive around a while to look for a parking place and then we find one that is a good distance from the place we are going. Rather than complaining about the delay of finding a parking spot and having to walk so far, we should be praising God. We should take that time to praise Him for the ability to drive and to walk. We should begin thanking Him for our feet and work our way up to our head, thanking Him for each body part and how we are wonderfully made.

God slows us down and sometimes rocks our world. He wants to shake us up and get our attention. When things aren’t going our way, God is reminding us things shouldn’t be going our way at all. Things should be going His way. If we stay mindful that interruptions in our lives are reminders from God, we will begin to recognize when we are getting off track and moving away from Him. We will see that we need to turn away from worthless things and focus on His word. Then He can work in us and allow us to make a difference by obeying Him and doing His will.