Is One Hour Really Too Much?

Most of you would know and have experienced that a time of 40 days of prayer and fast does not come without its challenges and struggles. Each week as I check in with the people in my open cell, a common sharing that I hear is that they struggle to spend that one hour with God, especially when there seems to be so many other (in our human understanding) important things to do. How do you carve out one hour of your time to be with the Lord when you have 3 tests to study for and you are behind in your revision? The easiest thing to do would be to tell God, "I'm sure you understand, I really need the time. It's not that I don't want to be with you, but I'm sure you want me to do well in my test right? I'm sorry but I will try harder when I have more time." Really? [+]

My personal experience through the first week of prayer and fasting was certainly short of smooth sailing. Having set that one hour aside, I found it was exactly like what SP had described - all the emails that I had not sent came into mind. The errand that I had to run suddenly just kept flashing before my eyes. Even the scenery outside my window became a distraction as I found myself being drawn to it instead of God! It was like, suddenly everything that could distract you amplified itself a thousand times and was fighting for your attention! This week that passed was a challenging time for me too. I was working towards an important dateline and found myself struggling with every minute that I gave to God. The stress and anxiety made it all the more difficult to start praying and finding rest in God!

The purpose of me sharing with you all these? Well, I pressed on. And I felt the Lord reveal to me something very precious.

Firstly, it is precisely in times of great stress and demands that we need to find our refuge in God. Of course the human side of us would rather take control and "manage it" the way we know how. Somehow, we feel that if we let God take charge, He will mess it up for us. Considering that He is the omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient creator of the whole universe, it is quite a joke for us to think that way, but I am sure most of you can identify.

Consider David who was anointed king at the age of 30 after the death of Saul. Many of the Psalms that he wrote were done during his twenties when he was evading Saul's capture! (That's not much older than many of us.) They were written not in times when he was king and he was walking through the royal gardens and contemplating the beauty of the world as the soft breeze blew by, but in very dire circumstances when his life was in danger! Yet, during those times, he found time to rest in the Lord and call out to Him. He KNEW his source of strength and WHO was his deliverer! And each time the Lord proved faithful and met his every need.

So, was it just about David tapping into the right source to sustain him through his life-threatening circumstances? I believe David knew something else. He knew that given his own devices, he would have gone down the path of destruction instead of one of hope. See, David was a warrior, and a skillful at that. He had his mighty men who were part of a great army. He could have taken things into his hands many times, yet as you read in the Psalms, a constant theme that appears is that of David giving up his right to retaliate, and allowing God the rightful place to vindicate him. He knew that on his own, his intentions could only be selfish and self-glorifying at best, hence the need to turn to God and to depend on Him. Only then, could he live a life that experienced true freedom in the Lord and delighted his heavenly father.

The Lord showed me that it is the same with my life. The times that I experience the greatest challenges are the times where I need more than ever to be with the Lord. I need His encouragement, His peace, His truth to guard my heart and mind, and hope in His ultimate sovereignty over my life. Without God, I will probably sink to great depths of depression and desolation. But in God, like the psalmist, I can cry out to Him to break me so that I become aware of the desperately sick condition of my heart and cry out for a new one that is tender and ready to receive of His love and to respond in obedience to Him.

The Lord showed me too, that many of my "important priorities" in life are motivated by my conditioned need to maximise my comfort and pleasure in this life on earth. Spending time with God would then mean having less time for these "treasures" that are highly valued in the world we live in. However, as a Christian, believing in Jesus and His resurrection means that I can and should live my live in light of eternity instead of this temporary home. What's going to matter in eternity is really my relationship and intimacy with Christ, not how well I do in school, how many promotions I have at work, how much money I earn or how much fame and recognition I receive from man. Not that doing well is unimportant, but that is not my main focus and priority in life. Rather, all these will be an outflow of a life that is consumed with loving God and loving His people!

That puts things in perspective doesn't it? Our live on this earth is not about eating well, staying healthy, getting a good job and having a loving family! If it were, what does it matter with or without Christ? But Jesus came to offer us something better! He came to give us a life of deep connection and intimacy with Him that was intended for us from the start. A life of total reliance that knows His peace and experiences the great measure of His loving kindness every second of our life from here to eternity!

Is one hour really too much? Don't short-change yourself. God is waiting with eager anticipation to fellowship with you. I pray your time with Him today will be extraordinary beyond what you can ever think or imagine. Amen.

Joshua Teo