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Downtime is Productive?
Sometimes it feels like there's too much going on. But what about in those times when there's not a lot happening?
Exodus 24:12, 15-16
Life can be really busy between work and school and all our other commitments. There can be so many parts of our life that we have to juggle. Sometimes it feels like there’s too much going on. But what about in those times when there’s not a lot happening? What about those times when it feels like there’s not much going on? We can get so used to our busy lives that we don’t know how to feel when we’re not busy. It can feel uncomfortable, even wrong, at times because we are so used to always doing something.
But the Bible suggests that these periods when there’s not a lot happening can actually be a good thing. In the book of Exodus, when God gives the law to Moses. There’s this very interesting detail that often gets overlooked or even missed.
The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain. Wait there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commands that I have written, so that you can teach them.” Moses went up onto the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The Glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered the mountain for six days. On the seventh day the Lord called to Moses out of the middle of the cloud.
Why did God make Moses wait on the mountain before giving him the Ten Commandments? Why didn’t God just have Moses come up on the mountain when he was ready to give him the law? Those are questions that I don’t have a good answer to. But what I can tell you is that God seems to find these periods when there’s not a lot happening productive. All over the Bible, you can find very similar situations where people had these periods where it felt like nothing was happening. Joseph spent months or even years in prison. King David spent years hiding out in caves. The prophet Elijah even was sent out of Israel to live by a creek for what could have been three years. And in all of these instances, these people probably were wondering how these periods that felt like nothing was happening could have made any sense. But God seems to find these periods productive in ways that we can’t quite understand.
We often want our lives to go at our own speed and work according to our own timing. But Jesus lived his life perfectly according to his Father’s will. He lived, died, and rose again to set us right with God. And he did all of it according to God’s timing. Odds are, right now your life is busier than not. But even during his busy ministry, Jesus had periods that looked like there was a little less happening periods when he went to be alone. Periods when he spent time with his Father in prayer.
So if your life is busy, that’s okay. Do what you can, but if it’s not, that’s okay too. And God might be using this period that feels like nothing’s happening for your benefit. It might be a period where you can learn, a period where you can grow in patience. Maybe it’s period for you to build your own spiritual life and spend time in the word and in prayer. But no matter what period of life you’re in, busy or not, you can be assured that God is working for your good as he has over and over again. Amen.
