He's Gone!

Nap time at our house has become a little bit of an ordeal. My son’s naps have shortened dramatically and my daughter is doing her very best to avoid them altogether. This past Monday at nap time my wife sat in my daughter’s room waiting for her to go to sleep. After telling her a couple of times to be quiet and go to sleep she finally heard her start to breathe deeply. She got and tiptoed out of the room. Just before she closed the door she stopped and left it cracked just a little bit to make sure she was sleeping. A few seconds later my daughter’s head popped up. She looked around to make sure Mom wasn’t in the room. Then she turned to her bear and said, “She’s gone!” It was all my wife could do to not bust out laughing as my daughter started playing with her stuffed animals.

How many times do we do find ourselves in that same situation with God? How many times do we feel that gentle nudge of the Holy Spirit in our heart showing us something that we are to do or say? And how many times do we try to wait until we don’t feel that nudge any longer so that we can tell ourselves, “He’s gone!”
As Christians we are followers of Christ. We are to attempt to emulate Jesus in everything we do. And when you boil it down the essentials of his life Jesus did only one thing during His time on the Earth. He lived His life according to God’s Will. Every word He spoke, every act He performed was to follow God’s Will. That needs to be our primary aspiration.  We must desire to live our life following God’s Will.

I’m certain that there were things that Jesus said and did that He did not want to say or do.  But He did them because He always followed God's Will.  When the disciples woke Him up out of fear from the storm I’m sure from His rebuke that He was a little annoyed. He might have even considered going back to sleep and letting them ride out the storm in fear. But God does not give us a spirit of fear. And God did not want the disciples to be afraid. So Jesus calmed the storm and their fears with it. I do know that Jesus did not want to die on the Cross. You may want to argue, but his prayer at Gethsemane proves the point.

"Then He said to them, My soul is very sad and deeply grieved, so that I am almost dying of sorrow. Stay here and keep awake and keep watch with Me. And going a little farther, He threw Himself upon the ground on His face and prayed saying, My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will [ not what I desire], but as You will and desire.”

Matthew 26:39-40

I had a “He’s gone!” moment recently. Last Friday at work in an attempt to joke around and be funny I made a disparaging comment about a co-worker. It wasn’t anything extreme or rude, but the comment was made behind her back. She didn’t hear it and would probably never know about it. It was gossip. And I knew that it was gossip. And God knew that it was gossip.

As I went to sit back down at my desk I knew I needed to apologize to her. But I was embarrassed and a little concerned about how she would react. So I procrastinated.  Before I knew it the day was over and she was gone.  I had lost my chance.  Or was I just saying to myself, "He's gone!"  Fast forward to Monday.  I hadn't thought but once or twice about apologizing and the day was close to over.  Then my wife called and told me about my daughter's nap time.  I hung up the phone still laughing.  And then it hit me.  I had done the same thing with God that my daughter had done with my wife.  I had acted like I was going to apologize, but I hadn't wanted to and was doing everything I could to convince myself not to.  So I waited until the opportunity was gone.  I knew what I had done.  And now I knew that God knew exactly what I had done.

Tuesday morning rolled around and I knew what I had to do.  I had to follow through on what God wanted me to do.  I had to apologize to her.  So I did.  It took a few minutes to work up the nerve, but I went over and apologized.  It was uneventful.  She was amused that I had was apologizing for something that she hadn't even overheard.  But it wasn't just about the apology.  It was about living my life following God Will.  

Think about the times in your life where you're trying to wait until "He's gone."  Is what God is asking you to do so unpleasant that you have to try and wait until God is gone before getting on with your life?  Because He is never gone.  He will always be there, waiting for you to follow His Will.  It may even be tougher than you think it will be, but following God's Will is much easier on your heart than trying to avoid it, and Him...