Idle Hands
“Idle hands are the Devil’s workshop”. Everyone’s mother has said this to you at one time or another (and I bet you’ve repeated it a few times yourself). Great concept…but is it not found anywhere in the Bible. Sure Ecclesiastes 10 says that lazy people have idle hands; James 4 tells us that if we know to do good but don’t that we sin; and in 2 Thessalonians 3, Paul told the people that if they didn’t work they shouldn’t eat. But in this fast-paced day and age, we tend to take it to heart and, as a result, we take the opposite to the extreme.
We lead busy lives. We fill our days with so much activity that we leave ourselves little or no time to eat or rest. We “multi-task” so that we can accomplish more projects in less time. We make jokes about lawyers billing more than 24 hours in a day, yet we try to cram just as many things into our day. We overbook and schedule appointments on top of appointments. We buy gadgets to help us do things faster and more efficiently, to be more mobile, and appear to be in two places at once. Most times, when asked, we just cannot say “NO”. Our weeks consist of meetings, soccer and baseball games, rehearsals, music or dance lessons, personal projects for our friends and/or family, and more meetings. For most of us, our problem is not “idle hands”, but not enough hands.
With such busy lives, we tend to let our defenses down. We don’t have the time to set our minds on things above or focus on what or who is really important. Then, when we come up against a seemingly insurmountable task, we tremble with the fear of failure, knowing that we just can’t give any more. The Israelites felt this way when they came up against the Red Sea with the Egyptian army closing in on them. God’s solution – “The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (Exodus 14:14) (emphasis added). “BE STILL?!?”, we think, “BE STILL!!? WE DON’T HAVE TIME TO BE STILL!” Yes, the Lord commands us to “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalms 46:10). To Saul on the road to Damascus, Jesus commanded him to go into the city and wait. For 3 days Saul sat in total darkness for instructions on how to find the Lord (Acts 9). Even Jesus often went off alone to pray (Matthew 14:23; Mark 6:46; Luke 6:12), sometimes all night. In His final hours, when the stress in His life was the greatest and He felt the weight of the world crashing in around Him, He spent time alone in the stillness of Gethsemane to talk to His Father (Matthew 26:39-44; Mark 14:35-40).
My prayer for you is that you take time to be still in the presence of the Lord and there find tranquility in His arms of love.
We lead busy lives. We fill our days with so much activity that we leave ourselves little or no time to eat or rest. We “multi-task” so that we can accomplish more projects in less time. We make jokes about lawyers billing more than 24 hours in a day, yet we try to cram just as many things into our day. We overbook and schedule appointments on top of appointments. We buy gadgets to help us do things faster and more efficiently, to be more mobile, and appear to be in two places at once. Most times, when asked, we just cannot say “NO”. Our weeks consist of meetings, soccer and baseball games, rehearsals, music or dance lessons, personal projects for our friends and/or family, and more meetings. For most of us, our problem is not “idle hands”, but not enough hands.
With such busy lives, we tend to let our defenses down. We don’t have the time to set our minds on things above or focus on what or who is really important. Then, when we come up against a seemingly insurmountable task, we tremble with the fear of failure, knowing that we just can’t give any more. The Israelites felt this way when they came up against the Red Sea with the Egyptian army closing in on them. God’s solution – “The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (Exodus 14:14) (emphasis added). “BE STILL?!?”, we think, “BE STILL!!? WE DON’T HAVE TIME TO BE STILL!” Yes, the Lord commands us to “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalms 46:10). To Saul on the road to Damascus, Jesus commanded him to go into the city and wait. For 3 days Saul sat in total darkness for instructions on how to find the Lord (Acts 9). Even Jesus often went off alone to pray (Matthew 14:23; Mark 6:46; Luke 6:12), sometimes all night. In His final hours, when the stress in His life was the greatest and He felt the weight of the world crashing in around Him, He spent time alone in the stillness of Gethsemane to talk to His Father (Matthew 26:39-44; Mark 14:35-40).
My prayer for you is that you take time to be still in the presence of the Lord and there find tranquility in His arms of love.
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Matthew 11:28-29)
posted by Carl Wheeler at 1:53 AM
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