Waiting for God and having a retreat time
I have been reading a lot of Psalms which talk about seeking God, waiting for God and resting in God's presence, and this is something I've been desiring to do more and more. I have been thinking a lot about what it means to 'wait for God' and so I examined the scriptures to for passages that talked about waiting for God:
"Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."
[Psalm 27: 14]
"I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope."
[Psalm 130: 5]
"For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him."
[Isaiah 30: 18]
"I waited patiently for the Lord; and he turned to me and heard my cry."
[Psalm 40: 1]
(Other helpful scriptures include Acts 1: 4, Romans 8: 23, 1 Thess 1: 10, Titus 2: 13 and Hebrews 9: 28)
I asked myself, what does it mean to 'wait for God'? It occurred to me that when we wait for something (ie a bus, train or a person we're meeting) we are usually not doing anything else and are focused on the thing waited for. When we wait for a person we are fitting into their time scale and suspending our own schedule - more often than not going at a slower pace. Waiting often results in an enforced reflective time which provides a chance to get things in perspective. The notion of waiting also carried the implication that there is a hopeful expectation that the thing or person waited for will be worth it. Putting these things into a the context of our relationship with God, I believe that waiting for God means being prepared to do things in his timing, and not come with our own agenda and timetable. It also means giving God all our attention and making him and his purposes our highest priority. It also teaches us patience and perseverance - God will give us what we need at the appointed time (like he provided manna in the desert for the Israelites). I found that learning these things made me want to set apart more time to be with God. I find that a scheduled retreat time with God is so important for a number of reasons:
(1) It clarifies the focus of my life and ministry and centres me on Jesus.
(2) It refreshes my personal faith which is essential in such a giving ministry.
(3) It allows God's word to be at the forefront of my mind and helps me to overcome the pervasive attitudes of the world.
As God is teaching me, I am learning to develop periods of quality extended time with him. I have realised that I need to be disciplined and that if I'm serious about my relationship with God, it will require sacrifice and constantly choosing to spend time with him instead of doing something else. My goals are:
(1) To have a daily quiet time of 1 hour: 15 mins Bible notes (Explore), 15 mins reading, 15 mins prayer, 15 mins worship.
(2) To go for regular prayer walks of about 1 - 2 hours. I find being outside away from distractions really helps me to focus on God, so I tend to go for long walks quite often.
(3) To have a day retreat at least once a month, taking myself to somewhere in the countryside completely away from distractions. My retreat days are usually made up of a combination of Bible study, personal prayer and intercession, singing, worship, walking, silence and praise for God's creation (and eating my packed lunch of course!). I take a notebook so that I can write down things that God speaks to me. I feel that God is helping me to expand my notions of worship, prayer, petition etc. I like to experiment with different ways of worshipping and praising God, for example running in the rain, different types of music, rhythm, using props to symbolise steps of faith that I have taken etc.
God is changing my attitude towards the whole concept of waiting for him and having retreat times. Instead of seeing it as a chore or something which is tedious or requires patience that I haven't got, I am excited about what God will do in me and through me the more of my life I surrender to him. I am realising the importance of structuring and prioritising my life so that I set aside time with God. I love being spontaneous in my relationship with God and having unexpected prayer and worship times, but I think it is important to get a balance between spontaneous prayer/worship and my daily quiet time and regular retreat time. I am also recognising that an abundance of Christian activity is not necessarily an indication of a healthy spiritual life. Sometimes it can even be necessary and worthwhile to withdraw from lots of activity to seek God and to fix my eyes back on him. Two scriptures that continually inspire me to seek God with all my heart are these:
"Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus..."
[Hebrews 12: 1 - 2]
"O God, you are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.
Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.
I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.
My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods."
[Psalm 63: 1 - 5]
A final thought:
"Your daily quiet time is more effective as you pray into day-by-day reality some of the things the Lord speaks to your heart in protracted times of prayer."
[From How to Spend a Day in Prayer by Lorne C Sanny]
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.
First published in Great Britain 1979. Used by permission of Hodder and Stoughton, a member of Hodder Headline Group. All rights reserved.
