Come, Thou Good and Faithful Servant

 Meanwhile, I am empty and need so much,
    but I know the Lord is thinking of me.
You are my help; only You can save me, my True God.
    Please hurry. 

(Psalm 40:17, The Voice) 

 

When he got there, he crawled into a cave and went to sleep. Then the word of God came to him: “So Elijah, what are you doing here?”

(1 Kings 19:9, The Message) 

 

Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”
 

The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”

 (Luke 1:17-18, NIV) 

 

God is not easily impressed - but then he never asks us to try to impress him. It is as if he turns to us when we are consumed with our own unworthiness and are tempted to avoid meeting with him, then he cuts through all our excuses and says: 'Relax, I already know you.'

 

Amy Carmichael captures the feeling of such an exchange in her book His thoughts said. . .  His Father said. . .  

 

The son said, 'But I am not successful.'

His Father said, 'At the end of the day will my word be, 

Come, thou good and successful servant? 

If only that will walk humbly with thy God it will be, 

Come, thou good and faithful servant. 

 

We are not called to be successful, but faithful - relax! (Northumbrian Aiden readings, Dec. 11)

 

In the face of a culture that worships productivity and success, 

relaxing may seem foolhardy. 

How might you practice your faith

in some small way this season 

in the God who gives his vision of success?