Do you need to slow down?

“Slow down. Take a deep breath. What’s the hurry? Why wear yourself out? Just what are you after anyway? But you say, ‘I can’t help it. I’m addicted to alien gods. I can’t quit.’ Jeremiah 2:25 (MSG)

Often God has to speak to me for a while about something before I listen. 

I find at times like that God gently prods me in the direction he wants me to go by placing the topic front and centre in my life. 

If I pick up a book it’ll be the only thing the author wants to write about. If I speak to a friend that will be the only thing they can talk about. When I read blogs every one will talk about the same thing. 

Lately, I’ve felt like God has been speaking to me about one thing: REST. 

I read it on my friend Lesley’s blog. 

Margaret Feinberg wrote about how the quality of your life depends on this one thing. 

And I started reading a book about it. 

I even had the chain break on my bicycle and considered the beauty of slowing down in life as I walked my bike back to the car.

And I found this verse in Jeremiah 2:25: 
“Slow down. Take a deep breath. What’s the hurry? Why wear yourself out?” (tweet this)

Something in my soul went “yes!” as I read this verse. “Yes! I want to slow down. Oh God, you know I want to take a deep breath and just sit with you for a while.

Yes! Yes! Yes!”

In the midst of telling God rest sounded like the best thing since an ice-cold coke on a hot day I read:

Just what are you after anyway? But you say, ‘I can’t help it. I’m addicted to alien gods. I can’t quit.’

Ouch! 

I’ve been turning that question over a lot in my head, “Just what am I after anyway?” 

I guess it boils down to what I want to achieve in life and who I want to be. Am I after money and a nice house or am I after a life that oozes God whether I have those things or not? 

I know that I want to put God first. I want to be able to slow down when God tells me to take a deep breath. 

I want to be a servant of God’s, not a slave to my things. (tweet this)

I’m still meditating on this verse, and I don’t have the answers for how this will look in my own life. 

I’m trusting God will keep gently prodding me in the right direction. 

And I’m taking a deep breath and reminding myself to not be in such a hurry. 

Ponder: Do you think your stuff gets in the way of finding rest in God? What helps you to slow down?

Prayer: God, help me to slow down. Give me a heart that runs after you. Amen. 

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- This was orginally published on my site in January 2013 to read more devotionals like this go to ilovedevotionals.com