Busy Work

“Are you bored yet?”

That was the question posed to me by one of my new co-workers.  My job is not particularly exciting.  For the most part, I stand around and make sure to be available to any of the patrons, should they need anything.  They usually don’t. 

I learned a long time ago that when you are at work, if someone asks if you are bored, the answer is always “no”.  If you answer “yes”, you will soon be inundated with a bunch of crap that you don’t want to do. 

“No, not at all,” was my reply.

I know you know what I mean.  So what do you do?  You create busy work.  Anything that makes you look busy, if you are not.  Why?  Because in our culture we often confuse activity with significance.

Busy work doesn’t move us forward; the only thing it accomplishes is creating an illusion that more is going on than actually is.  When I hired my business coach I fell into the trap of believing that I had to do more, stay busy in order to build a successful business.  The trap of “more is better”.  The truth is:  better is better.

So often we treat our relationship with God the same way.  We think that the more we do, the more He will love us.  The more we do, the bigger our blessings will be.  The more we do, the more peace we will have.  In fact, the opposite is true.  The sermon delivered by our pastor this morning addressed that very issue.  The title of the sermon was “Be Quiet and Wait”.  The text was taken from Isaiah 30:15 – In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.

We have to learn to be quiet.  Nowadays, we can’t seem to go 5 minutes without opening our big mouths.  Repeatedly, the Bible teaches us to be quiet and wait on the Lord.  Activity does not please God, obedience pleases God.  Remember, if you are talking then you are NOT listening.  God wants to speak to you but He can't if you won't be quiet.

This is a great lesson for me.  I was stressed out over my business and racking my brain trying to figure out what else I could do.  God has made me promises.  All I can do is be quiet and wait.  I trust that He will not fail me.  That doesn't mean that I sit back and do nothing -- it means that I do all that I can do and then wait quietly and allow God to do what I cannot do.

Below I’ve listed the 5 points from the sermon.  You can access the full sermon at www.newlife.global:

      1.       Quietness is necessary for deep spiritual growth (Isaiah 30:15)

      2.       Quietness can be learned (1 Thessalonians 4:11)

      3.       Quietness increases your faith in God (Exodus 14:13)

      4.       Quietness puts you in a position to hear God (Numbers 9:8)

      5.       Quietness is an act of worship (Habakkuk 2:20)