Lord, Stir Me Up!

“And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee…” Isaiah 64:7

Reading the above verse yesterday morning was a huge blessing! Why? Because I KNOW the Lord gave it to me! For a few months now, one thing I have been asking of the Lord is that He “stir me up”. Ahhh…what a loving, personal God we serve!

I don’t know about you, but there are times that I begin to feel a little drowsy in my walk with the Lord. Spiritually speaking, my head feels foggy and my feet heavy. Often, it is simply the circumstances of life that cause this spiritual lethargy but whatever the cause, I don’t like it. As I have asked to be stirred, God has indeed been faithful to His Word!

“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” Matthew 5:6  

My morning quiet time with God has once again stirred me up as different thoughts from the Word seem to leap off the pages – praise the Lord! God has been very gracious to me as He has made His presence real in different ways. Can I say right here – God is SO GOOD! Oh yes, I have truly enjoyed this time of being stirred up by the Lord!

When I first began to pray, “Lord, stir me up!” I already had it “figured out” just HOW the Lord would answer my prayer. The little scenario I had in mind looked something like this:

I would get up in the morning as usual and, while reading my Bible, His truths would just jump out at me. As His Word once again came alive to me, I would be rejuvenated in my Christian walk and, as the Lord gave me opportunity, I would seek to be a channel of encouragement to others. The End.

However…

It wasn’t long before the Lord reminded me…

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:9

In more recent weeks, through experiencing “not-quite-as-pleasant” circumstances as what I described above, God has FAITHFULLY continued to stir me up! Even though these experiences may not have been what I had in mind, is God still good? ABSOLUTELY! Anything that causes me to inwardly examine myself is a good thing. Anything that encourages me to study His Word more is a good thing. Anything that brings me to my knees in prayer is a good thing. Anything that results in a conversation with my girls to clear up false teaching is a good thing. Anything that creates in me a compassion for sinners and struggling saints is a good thing.

Bottom line, ANYTHING that stirs me up spiritually is a GOOD THING!

I am reminded of the following devotional by F.B. Meyer:

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“I will make all my mountains a way” Isaiah 49:11

God will make obstacles serve His purpose. We all have mountains in our lives. There are people and things that threaten to bar our progress in the Divine life. Those heavy claims, that uncongenial occupation, that thorn in the flesh, that daily cross — we think that if only these were removed we might live purer, tenderer, holier lives; and often we pray for their removal.

“Oh, fools, and slow of heart!” These are the very conditions of achievement; they have been put into our lives as the means to the very graces and virtues for which we have been praying so long. Thou hast prayed for patience through long years, but there is something that tries thee beyond endurance; thou hast fled from it, evaded it, accounted it an unsurmountable obstacle to the desired attainment, and supposed that its removal would secure thy immediate deliverance and victory.

Not so! Thou wouldest gain only the cessation of temptations to impatience. But this would not be patience. Patience can be acquired only through just such trials as now seem unbearable.

Go back; submit thyself. Claim to be a partaker in the patience of Jesus. Meet thy trials in Him. There is nothing in life which harasses and annoys that may not become subservient to the highest ends. They are His mountains. He puts them there. We know that God will not fail to keep His promise.

“God understandeth the way thereof and knoweth the place thereof. For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven”; and when we come to the foot of the mountains, we shall find the way.

~ F.B. Meyer

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This morning, do we need to be stirred up? Will we trust God by asking Him to do this very thing in our lives today?

“Rouse thee, O believer, from thy low condition! Cast away thy sloth, thy lethargy, thy coldness, or whatever interferes with thy chaste and pure love to Christ. Make Him the source, the center, and the circumference of all thy soul’s range of delight. Rest no longer satisfied with thy dwarfish attainments. Aspire to a higher, a nobler, a fuller life. Upward to heaven! Nearer to God!” ~ C.H. Spurgeon