Where is it?

There are so many things that we as a people juggle. When leaving the house to go wherever we need to go, we have to remember our wallet, our keys, our phone, and then other stuff that we need for whatever task we have set out to accomplish. While gathering those items, I have sort of a mental checklist of them. Of course because it is a “mental” checklist, some items get forgotten. Then I have to walk around looking for items I forgot to gather earlier. Then when it comes time to leave, I inevitably leave something behind or I spend time searching for an item that I thought I couldn’t possibly forget but did. Am I part of the few that do this? I find myself standing in the middle of the room saying to myself, “Where is it?”

Another way of looking at our time with God in His Word can be described this way. We are thinking about a bunch of things that we have to do when we are done with communing with God and studying. We search through scripture looking for God’s promises and lessons to carry us through to meet our goals for the day. We have a sort of mental checklist of those special verses that we think to ourselves that we will not forget, but then we forget them as the day moves on. And we sit there looking in the midst of the pages of the Bible saying to ourselves, “Where is it?”

There is time to study God’s Word searching out His promises and lessons for us, and there is time to sit in His presence sitting still allowing His Spirit to wash over us. When these two acts are done together, we receive the maximum benefit each time. His Spirit brings to our remembrance those things that are needed to know for the day. He knows all things. He knows what is going to happen for the day. Many times, when we sit in His presence, different passages, verses, and lessons come to mind. Sometimes, at the time, we don’t know why they came to mind just then. But then throughout the day, something happens and those words come back up in our minds, and it allows us to accomplish whatever it is that we need to accomplish in that moment.

I have given a lot of thought to the organization of my home lately. I want to have an efficient and effective home with a place for everything and everything in its place. Currently, with four sons, a husband, and two dogs, I definitely have my work cut out for me. However, I don’t want to have to spend precious time searching for something I take with me most everyday. I don’t feel that it is good to search for my son’s shoes in the morning before school. I am really tired of trying to find their lunchboxes. (If you know, you know.)

In the same way, when I finally get a bit of time to sit in God’s presence and search His Word, I want to go straight to the point. When Holy Spirit tells me something, I don’t want to have to flip a bunch of pages to look for what He is telling me, especially when it is one of the passages that I have gone over many, many times, or the ones that I have memorized in the past. I look at those like the physical items I carry with me for the day most everyday – sort of like my wallet, keys, and phone. Don’t get me wrong, I like to search for new lessons and points. I love it when God highlights things that I don’t remember ever noticing before, or when He shows me a connection between the Old Testament and Jesus. (Those get me super excited!)

I may just be an impatient person because I don’t like to spend time flipping back and forth in the Bible looking for a specific verse that I know is in there but forgot where exactly, and I want to know the verses and lesson surrounding it. I don’t want to think, “Where is it?” What do you think? What about you? Do you feel the same way at times? Or is it just me?

Gotta go fill up my cup…..