Open, Open, Open!

 God, the one and only— I’ll wait as long as he says. Everything I need comes from him, so why not? He’s solid rock under my feet, breathing room for my soul, An impregnable castle: I’m set for life. (Psalm 62:1)

How many times have we found it hard to wait for God's timing in our lives? The more we wait, the harder it seems to await whatever it is we are waiting on. Unable to wait longer, we can jump ahead of his timing, bringing disaster to bear in our lives. Been there, done that, and even wore out the t-shirt! Our psalmist puts things in perspective for those of us who have had to wait a little longer than we might have liked: "Everything I need comes from - so why not wait"? He is our solid rock - a firm foundation upon which we can base our trust. He gives us a chance to rest in him - breathing room for our souls, so we don't jump ahead of him. He is that impregnable castle - a word picture for not only the capability he has to keep us in our times of waiting, but a vast place for us to explore more and more of him as we do.

Yet, if you are like me, your soul doesn't exactly want to 'rest' at times - your mind gets you going and your emotions have you in a twisted bundle of worries. So, you plan how you can 'speed things up' a little, don't you? Or am I the only one who jumps ahead? While the foundation upon which we place our trust is reliable, we sometimes step a little too close to the edge of that trust, letting go of it piece by piece because we have allowed something to disturb our peace in the midst of the waiting. Usually we can overcome that disturbance, but allowed to steep a little and that brewing discontent can cause us to launch out on our own.

It is a hard lesson to appreciate - everything we need comes from God and he has already made provision. Think for a moment about your next meal. If you pantry or refrigerator is a little low, you probably plan a trip to the grocer. You do so because you have formed a habit of trusting the grocer to have what it is you require for that next meal - a provision storehouse of sorts. If we can trust our local grocer to be a provision storehouse, why do we have such a hard time trusting God to be the one who will make provision for all we need? His storehouse is vaster than any grocer's; his resources are innumerable and are continually being refreshed. Our psalmist appreciated this fact - God has everything we need, opening up his storehouses to meet those very needs - in his timing and according to his purposes.

Do you go to the grocer 'after-hours' when the business is shut down and count on getting groceries? No - you know the business hours and you venture there during those set hours. If we can abide by the timing of these physical business that act as storehouses for our needs, why do we find it hard to wait on the timing of our God? We wait on the timing of our grocer - so why not wait on God's perfect timing to open up those storehouse of his grace and provision? Just askin!

The Well Within

⁵ Knowing what is right is like deep water in the heart;
   a wise person draws from the well within. 

(Proverbs 20:5)

Knowing what is right and actually doing it are two entirely different things.  I know that it is right to drive the speed limit, but when I see all the other cars going 5-10 mph over the speed limit, it is much easier to "go with the flow" than to be dragging behind with cars swerving all around me.  When faced with a choice between what is right and what is clearly wrong, I should not be amazed at how freely we embrace the latter!  It is a common occurrence for us - it is part of our nature to choose the "wrong stuff", even when the "right stuff" is right there for the choosing.

How do we know what is right?  Too many times, we rely upon our experience to help us determine what is "right" in a circumstance.  For instance, if we have experienced the pain of a throbbing thumb after crushing it under the blow of a hammer, we can certainly associate with the fact that we now know that there is a "right" and a "wrong" way to hammer in a nail!  Don't get me wrong - there is no real substitute for human experience, but I don't need to experience "getting drunk" to see that it doesn't look all that fun!

Experience cannot be our only guide.  We can often miss stuff because we simply have not experienced it.  We each have limited experiences in some realms of life.  Some of us are single - we may not have experienced the tough days of marriage, the joys of deep companionship, or the drama of being so close to someone so totally your opposite.  But...we can learn much from the experiences of others who have walked that path!  The sharing of experience is one way we learn!

We want to have "experiences" that are right and true each and every time.  That is what Solomon is alluding to in this passage.  This type of 'consistent' experience is not just opinion or judgment - it is something that is a well-worn path in our life.  He likens it to a well, running deep, that just doesn't fail us.  The well within is only as deep as it has been "dug"!  Well-diggers usually stop when they find the flow of water.  God wants us to not stop at the development of a "trickle", but to dig a little deeper until we find the "gusher" of his supply!

The deeper the well, the more refreshing it is.  Why is that?  It is simply because what has been "stored up" in that well has been through a whole lot of "filtration" to get there!  Rains come, the water sinks deeper and deeper, through layers and layers of "filtering" soil/rock.  As it does, the "impurities" are "filtered out".  What we are left with is a pretty refreshing supply of water.  

The well has no outsource unless it is tapped.  If we just "take in" and never really "drill down" to see what is being stored up, we will never realize the awesomeness of the "well within".  Solomon wants us to learn to regularly "take in" so that we might have a "well within" that will sustain us in life's driest times.  We take much in - are we "tapping into" what we have stored within?