Grow Your Faith in This Season by Slowing Down
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Emerging from the busyness of the holidays, it can feel like we need another holiday to rest and recover. January comes around and it just seems a bit bleak and boring after all of the fun, festivities, and the faith-filled focus that Christmas brings. However, this come-down into a new month and year can be the start of slowing down as we mean to go on. If anyone is looking for a cheeky, late New Year’s resolution, perhaps slowing down for the sake of your faith is one to try.
Slowing Down Means Resting in Jesus
As a parent of young children, slowing down is both essential and difficult for me. I have to recharge by myself to carry on with the many roles and responsibilities of the day. But it is not easy to find that time, and when I do, it does not seem to last long! However, time in God’s Word, with a cup of tea and a blanket over my legs is heavenly. Excuse the cliché.
We may face the new year with the same struggles we had momentarily left behind for Christmas. The sluggish January days can provide an opportunity to surrender afresh our worries and anxieties to the Lord. Philippians 4:6-7 says “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” For Jesus, having moments communing with His Father in prayer in the early hours was part of his life and ministry. He withdrew from the crowds to quiet places to pray (Luke 5:16). If Jesus saw the need to slow down in the midst of His busy ministry, we do well to model our Maker.
Making time to slow down is good, but rest is better. We may slow down in terms of our physical busyness, but what about our mental activity too? Do we find ourselves ever truly slowing down from the many demands of our life, being distracted by endless entertainment, or from the many concerns floating in our minds? Real rest means resting upon the One who gives us rest. Jesus said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). When we come to Jesus with all of our concerns, we are promised rest.
If resting seems near impossible right now, trust in Jesus. Even when it seems like those longings for quieter moments are out of reach, rest on His character, His promises, and His truth. Speak His words from the Bible to encourage and uplift your weary heart. Jesus is the Word (John 1:1). The Word of God sanctifies (John 17:17), endures forever (1 Peter 1:25), is alive and active (Hebrews 4:12), accomplishes what God desires, and achieves the purposes for which He sends it (Isaiah 55:11). Our faith will grow as we spend time resting in the very words of God found in knowing the Word - Christ Himself.
Physical and Spiritual Needs Are Important as We Slow Down
Making sure we have adequate nutrition and rest can refresh our bodies and enable us to get through the day. We see this when Elijah ran away from Jezebel who wanted to take his life. Elijah was afraid, and in the wilderness, he sat down under a bush and prayed to God that he might die. Elijah said, “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors” (1 Kings 19:4-5). Then he fell asleep with nothing to do but wait for death.
An angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat” and Elijah looked around, and by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water which he took and consumed (1 Kings 19:5-6). The angel of the Lord came back again, touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” So he ate, drank and was strengthened which enabled him to travel forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God (1 Kings 19:7-8).
The Lord knew that he needed to eat, and He provided for Elijah’s physical needs to enable him to carry on.
The word of the Lord came to Elijah when he spent the night in a cave and asked him what he was doing. Elijah responded by saying, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” Despite being strengthened physically for the journey, spiritually he was worn out, he felt alone and fearful, seeing how God’s people had rejected God and how the prophets were being put to death.
The Lord told Elijah to stand on the mountain, for the presence of God was about to pass by (1 Kings 19:11). It was a powerful display of nature with wind tearing mountains, an earthquake and a fire, but God was not in the center of any of these dramatic manifestations. It was a gentle whisper that called a discouraged Elijah out of his cave. This still, small voice was the presence and encounter with God that Elijah needed. The gentle whisper of God still speaks today, if we slow down to listen for Him.
The Lord Knows What We Need, and He Cares with Deep Compassion
Elijah’s faith was sure to have grown when God gave him clear directions on what to do next, and He shared how there was a remnant of others who were standing up for truth. God said, “Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel — all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him” (1 Kings 19:18).
Similarly, in the New Testament, we read how Jesus also had compassion on the crowds that had traveled miles to come to Him. He multiplied bread and fish, feeding thousands. Jesus said, “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way” (Matthew 15:32). He was concerned for their welfare, knowing that if they left with no food, they would faint on their return journey.
It was not just the physical needs of the crowd that were met that day. It was the faith of the disciples that would have increased as they saw how Jesus handled the crowd with compassion, and met their need in a miraculous way. Knowing that we do not live by bread alone, but by the very words of God (Matthew 4:4), we can rest in the knowledge that God is compassionate and merciful in what He says. His words were proven in all that He did. He cares for the whole person. Remember that Jesus is the bread of life (John 6:35). It was His body (like the bread that He gave to the people) that was broken for us (Mark 14:22-24; Matthew 26:26-28).
God’s Work and Our Work in the Slowing Down
In slowing down, there is time to remember that our lives are not our own. We were bought with the precious blood of Christ on the cross. When we trust in the finished work of Jesus, who paid the debt that our sins demanded, we become a new creation. The old life is gone, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17). As we live for Jesus, it is His power at work in us (Ephesians 3:20). We cannot save ourselves and we cannot sanctify ourselves. Only God can do that.
So, what can we do as we slow down?
We can make the best use of the time (Ephesians 5:16). The second part of verse 16 says “because the days are evil.” Entering a new year filled with hard-to-read headlines reminds us that this world is a dark place. Jesus prayed that His followers would be protected from the evil one, not taken out of the world (John 17:15). As we navigate these difficult days, we can use our time to know Jesus more. As we come to Him, spending time in prayer, in the Bible, and intentionally longing to sit at His feet, we will be using our time well and our faith will increase.
Slowing down is needed in this fast-paced world. We can spend our days distracted, distant and dazed, and we wonder why we are not growing in faith. Yet, God is faithful and as we trust and obey His Word, He will faithfully work in us and through us, revealing more of Himself to us. If we want to know more about God and ourselves, we need to rest in the truths found in the Bible. It is where God speaks and is most clearly revealed. It is where we can see the desperate state of humanity and its complete inability to save itself. We can trust that as we rest in God’s promises, knowing that He is our gentle and lowly Savior, we will find rest for our souls (Matthew 11:29).
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