Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

• Galatians 6:9

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

• Psalm 46:10

“Therefore wait for me,” declares the Lord, “for the day I will stand up to testify. I have decided to assemble the nations, to gather the kingdoms and to pour out my wrath on them— all my fierce anger. The whole world will be consumed by the fire of my jealous anger.

• Zephaniah 3:8

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.

• Matthew 9:37

This is not about the emotional roller coaster.  This is about the act of doing things.  The kinetic roller coaster.

When do we wait?

Obviously, we wait on the Lord.  We wait for the timing to be right.  We wait on God’s Voice saying that it is time.

When do we be still and know that He is God?

Obviously, when we hear God’s Voice, but is it God’s Voice or us shouting that the waiting is over?

And while God commands that we rest, some of my best resting is when I am writing, but I seem to know when I need to step away and become prone for a few moments.

Yet, we should never be weary of doing good…

Get the roller coaster concept?

We are to never be weary, but we need our rest, our time in waiting for the Lord, and our time to discern God calling us to action.

I left my podiatrist’s office the other day, and the traffic was that irritating one car at a time thing.  The light was red at the top of the hill, so the people were turning off the other road.  They were just far enough apart so that my brain was saying, “Go! Now!  No!  Wait!  He’s speeding up.”

For several cars, I would take my foot from the brake to the accelerator and back to the brake.  They each intimidated me so they could go down the road undeterred.  But then, the next car noticeably slowed down.  He had not seen what was happening, but he was being polite.

That is the way that I feel with a variety of tasks for the Lord.  Go!  No! Now, go!  No, wait!

And when I am snowed in or torrential rains, whenever weather says, “Stay home for a few days,” I have this grand opportunity to do a lot of writing.  But then I go to the bedroom to listen to one or two songs on a television music channel, and the next thing that I know it is an hour later.  And somehow, I stay on my writing schedule.

The point is that I think I can get comfortably ahead with my writing, but God knows I need a nap.

So, should I feel guilty over the nap?  Should I work that much harder to catch up for the time lost napping?

But wait, not on the Lord.  The Lord already took care of that waiting.  But how did I express the nap?  I wanted to write, but God knew I needed the nap.

The nap was not lost time.  The time was not wasted.  All these things must be kept in balance.  God tells us to go.  He tells us to stop.  And when all are in balance, we have the energy and the clarity of mind so that when we go, we get more done.

Unless you have had a five-day long nap, and Rip van Winkle is in the corner laughing at such a short nap…  I often have a conversation with God.  Five minutes more…  But then, God, if I do not get out of bed, I may never get anything done.

God knows what we need, and often we do not have a clue.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.