Bad Connection

Some of my favorite Bible studies have been from Beth Moore (feel free to roll your eyes). My mom and I used to do them together at her church. We did quite a few of them…one of them twice. I learned to navigate the Bible a little better through her studies because the homework had me jumping all over the place. Anyway, mom and I must have done a dozen of her studies over the years, and there is one thing that has stayed with me. I don’t even remember what study we were doing when Beth Moore said this, but it hit me hard. She said, as if this was God speaking, “You can bend your knees or I will break your legs, but one way or another you are going down.” 

Wow. That seems harsh at first doesn’t it? Why would God, who is supposed to be so loving and caring, want to break our legs? 

Maybe, so we would finally stop. Maybe, so we would finally see through the distractions surrounding us. Maybe, so we would finally be still. Maybe, so He could finally get our attention. Maybe, so He could finally get through to us. Maybe, so we would finally listen. 

Has God ever had to break your legs? I can tell you from experience that, while it is not always fun, it is one of the best things we can experience. 

So many of us have bought into the lie that we have been fed by society that busyness equals importance and worth. Idle hands are the devil’s workshop right? We are fed these messages over and over again telling us we have to keep striving and hustling if we want to be significant in any way. We have to be running from sporting event to sporting event if we have children, or we are bad parents. If we are not working at least 50 hours a week, then we must not have a job that matters. If we are not at church every time the doors open and attending every Bible study out there, we must be bad Christians. Yes, even good things like church events and Bible studies can be nothing more than busyness and distractions sometimes. 

Think about advertisements. Why do they claim that we need the newest, most advanced thing out there? Because it is going to make our life easier. It is going to free up our time so we can get more done, right? Advertisers know we believe all this craziness, and they feed on it by telling us that their product can free up some time for us. Their product will make our lives easier and more efficient. The funny thing is, they are making a killing off of us because we just continue to swallow up lie after lie telling us that we are not busy enough, so we must not be significant. And we all want to be significant right? 

Let me ask you a question…why isn’t being a child of the Most High King enough significance for you? Why doesn’t being an heir in the Kingdom of God satisfy you? Why do you find more worth in your busyness than you do in the fact that you were created and chosen by the God of the universe? 

Now let me ask you again, why would God want to break our legs? Because He loves us too much not to, that’s why.

He loves us too much to allow us to live in the distractions of life forever. He loves us too much to allow us to busy ourselves to death with the things of this world. He will not let us go without a fight, and if that means that He has to break our legs to remind us to kneel in stillness before Him from time to time, then so be it. It is a small price to pay for Him to be able to restore our strength, health, and joy. It is a small price to pay for Him to be able to remind us of who we are and Whose we are. We forget far too often. 

Daily connection with God is what builds contentment in our lives and breaks the cycle of busyness. I don’t know what that looks like for you. It looks a lot of different ways for me. Sometimes, it looks like quiet moments out in nature. Sometimes, it looks like worship music turned up obnoxiously loud while I wash dishes or do laundry. Sometimes, it looks like getting up before the sun rises and reading scripture by candlelight. Sometimes, it looks like sitting at His feet in the darkness, drinking a cup of hot tea, and listening for His voice. 

I can’t tell you how to connect with God. It is personal. Just like we connect with our friends and family in different ways, we also connect with God in different ways. You have to find out what works for you, and then commit to it. You will most likely find that there are multiple ways that you connect with God. That’s okay. The point is that you are practicing them regularly. 

God never intended for us to find our worth in our busyness. He never intended for us to live in a constant state of fear: fear of being a bad parent or spouse, fear of not having the latest and greatest of everything, fear of not having enough time, fear of slowing down, fear of not being enough, or fear of not working hard enough. All this fear drives out all possibility for contentment and peace. Those are the things that God wants for us. He wants us to live in His perfect peace and be content in Him. Like the song says, “What heights of love, what depths of peace, when fears are stilled, when strivings cease.” 

God loves you too much to allow you to stay disconnected from Him for too long, and He will do whatever it takes to reestablish that connection with you. It is through that connection with God that you will experience the peace that transcends all understanding and finally understand what it means to be content, no matter what the world is telling you.