Waiting on God

I have been studying the amazing book by Cassandra Martin called Our Father in Heaven . . . Teach Us to Pray over the past few weeks and have just been amazed. Prayer is something that I struggle with at times. Oh, I talk to God constantly, but I struggle with sitting down and just letting it all out. You hear of these people who wake up at 5:30 (which I do) and talk to God for 30 minutes to an hour to start their day. I have to admit, I don't do that. I find that when I try to do that my mind wanders over every direction possible and nothing flows. While I know my God is not concerned with my delivery and presentation, I want to be pleasing to Him. Mrs. Martin does such a good job laying things out for me in a simple way and I am blown away daily by the remarks she makes and in the way she makes them. I have been toying with sharing spiritual insights I have on this blog because I am not a writer in any way possible, but I do long to share my faith and spiritual growth with others. So bear with me as I begin this new journey . . .
One of the requirements for coming before our Father in heaven in prayer is for our hearts to quiet. When we come to Him in disaray (which is sometimes neccessary depending on the situation) and craziness of our lives we have a difficult time meeting our Lord. We see in Mark 1:35 that Jesus and His disciples took a time out and away from the business of their lives to rest, reflect and reconnect with the One that was most important to them and the work they were doing. We know the familiar verse is Psalms 46:10a - Be still and know that I am God. Be still that means to stop and to cease striving. However, in our crazy world, it is hard for us to stop, to cease and to be still. We are always waiting for the BIG moment to come to us and we want our delivery and presentation to be one that just knocks everyone out of their seat. When we come before our Father we want to be amazed with the big show of His awesome power, but we see that is not neccessarily so. God wants us to be still and quiet when we come to Him so we are ready to listen to what He has to say to us.
This is pictured beautifully in 1 Kings 19:11-13. Mrs. Martin takes a pretty familiar story and presented it in a way that really hits home. Elijah is on an emotional roller coaster. He has defeated the prophets of Baal on Mount Caramel, but then is running for his life when he hears the wicked Queen Jezebel is after him. God calls Elijah to the mountain to learn from Him and to be quiet, but Elijah brings a lot of baggage with him. Elijah wants to meet God, but his heart is not ready. God tells Elijah to wait on the mountain for him to pass by. Elijah waits as a violent wind comes by, but that is not God. An earthquake comes, but that is not God as well. A fire blazes through, but that is not God either. Elijah sees God in a gentle whisper. Mrs. Martin mentions that the wind, earthquake and fire can represent our lives and what we bring in our hearts as we come to God. We bring an earthquake that causes our focus to be on what is ripping our lives apart right now instead of at the One that can mend it. We bring a violent wind of things howling at us in our lives and we bring a fire that is so out of control we cannot focus on the One who can help us get back in control. God comes to us in a whisper so we have to be quiet and get closer to Him and His heart in order to listen to Him. Mrs. Martin, again, puts it perfectly, "The winds howl and the earthquakes will shake, but God wants us to be so attuned to His voice that we will wait, long and listen for His gentle whisper."
May God be with each of us as we strive to quiet our hearts in our crazy world and strive to draw closer to His heart to hear His whisper.