Too Busy for God
When I was a child, I learned the importance of a daily “quiet time” with God from mentors in my church. People spend their “quiet time” differently, but in general, it is daily time set aside and intentionally spent in God’s presence, in His Word, and in prayer.
When I was in middle school and high school, my quiet time looked differently than it does today. I would read a devotion and spend some time in prayer in the morning before school, or I would read a Bible passage at night before I went to sleep. Now I really enjoy journaling so I often write down my prayers as well as my thoughts and revelations on Scripture.
As I have gotten older, I’ve learned that having a quiet time with God gets harder and requires more discipline. When I wake up, my mind immediately makes a mental “to-do list” of what I need to do for the day, and this checklist often steers me away from my time with God when I get to my office. I think to myself, “My quiet time with God can wait. This has to be done now.”
Other days, I feel undeserving and inadequate to spend time in the presence of God. I might have those feelings because it’s been several days or weeks since I last spent time with Him. I also might feel this way because of a sin in my life—maybe I’ve gossiped, been angry, or acted selfishly toward my husband.
Some days, I feel inadequate to have a quiet time because I don’t think I have an adequate amount of time. I might only have 15 minutes, whereas I would like to have 30 minutes to an hour in God’s presence. Maybe I forget my Bible, journal, or my favorite pen and highlighter (gasp!). For a woman like me who is very systematic at times, these hiccups can feel like major issues.
All of these concerns can make a quiet time feel more like another chore on a checklist instead of a gift from God. But then I read what Jesus said about a quiet time in Matthew 6:6: “Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense His grace” (MSG).
When we spend time with God, He asks two things of us. First, He does not ask us to come into His presence perfectly, but “as simply and honestly as we can manage.” This means that we can come to our quiet times with our sin, our shame, and our feelings of inadequacy. He will meet us where we are, forgive us, and transform such thoughts and feelings. We can also come with as much or as little time as we have; God is mighty enough to work with 15 minutes or an hour. God does not ask for grand prayers, the best Bible reading plan, or the perfect space; He only asks for simplicity and honesty in our quiet times.
The second thing God asks of us when we spend time with Him is for our focus to shift from us to God. This means that we place our to-do lists aside. We yield our thoughts, desires, dreams, and actions to the authority of Christ. (Even having my favorite pen and highlighter with me is a minor issue in light of my quiet time with God.) John 3:30 says, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (ESV). Our quiet times should result in a decrease of ourselves and an increase of God in our lives.
When these things happen, Matthew 6:6 says that we will “begin to sense His grace” (MSG). This is such a sweet reward of our quiet time because God’s grace is sufficient to carry us through the rest of our day. With this newfound sense of His grace, we will begin to feel His presence not only in our quiet times, but also throughout our days and in our relationships.
Questions for your family:
1. What does a “quiet time” mean to you? How do you spend your quiet time with God?
2. What gets in the way of having a quiet time with God?
3. What are some ways that you can spend your quiet time with God more simply and honestly?
4. How can you shift your focus more from you to God in your quiet time?
