“Why do you stand here looking at the sky?”
I totally understand what the disciples were feeling right here. Many times in life I have felt like I would be completely satisfied just to be with Jesus. I just want to rest in His Presence, to be content just to know that He is near and that I’m held by Him and that nothing will stop His completely unmerited love for me.
The Bible says that Moses hung out with God in a cloud on a mountain for 40 days and 40 nights. I don’t think he even bothered to eat. He was so content just to be with God. Then God told him that he had to get back to real life.
Sometimes I think that I could just get away from everyone and be a hermit all alone with Jesus and that would be satisfied. I would build a cabin deep in the woods and just read and study trees.
But the reality of the situation is that while I have witnessed God in nature, I have also learned him in the deep conversations with friends, I have glimpsed him in the faces of every person I meet here in Nicaragua.
There is a time to rest with God and just be alone with Him. Daily, hopefully. Then there is a time to go out into the world in the power of the Spirit He gives. Acts 1 has disciples looking awestruck into the sky, but they don’t stay there. They get together and pray, God hits them with the Holy Spirit, and next thing you know Peter is preaching boldly to Iranians, Greeks, and Jews.
A dear old saint in my church once told me that we are like lakes. We must be pouring out or we become septic. I am so thankful that she signed me up to work at vacation Bible school without my consent. Now I catch myself looking at the sky, but remembering that what I sense is just a taste of eternity. I will have forever to enjoy these things with the Lord. Now is the time to dive deep with him into the work.
Jesus said two things to me: one, that I should come to him thirsty and drink- and two, that whoever believes in him will have rivers of living water coming out of them.
From this I gather that I am called to a balance. I am to come daily to receive what Jesus pours out to me, then pour it out to others. Otherwise I become a nasty lake.
What about you? Are you getting filled up, or do you feel like a dried up lakebed?
What outlets do you have to share God’s love with others?
