Acknowledge

Too often, I try to gather all the things in my head into one neat pile to sort them on my calendar, in my notes, in my home, my heart, my to do list. Trying to hold onto everything at once means juggling, tension, stress- stuff that keeps me from rest, but not only that! I’m distracted to the point where I can’t focus on any one thing as it deserves. This is when I get snippy! I become impatient with myself and my people.

What good does it do me? Nothing changes. I squander precious time and ideas trying to do too much at once! The wisdom God gave Solomon over the course of a lifetime is recorded in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, but just as I could never absorb all this wisdom and knowledge in one sitting, neither can I hold even one day’s worth of life in my hands! Only God’s hands are big enough for that!

“For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.”

Ecclesiastes 3:1 NLT

https://www.bible.com/116/ecc.3.1.nlt

“God can do more in a moment than we can do in a lifetime.”

“The Greatest Thing You Can Do for America: Pray,” by Ronnie Floyd, Decision magazine, May 2021

It takes time for me to fully communicate an idea in words, but God is able to reveal the equivalent of an entire conversation in the blink of an eye! As I read His word and seek understanding, He probes the recesses of my mind and draws out Scriptures, combining them with mental images from memories or recent experience to form a complete idea- revelation. Even as I seek to explain it, I am awed! His Spirit communes with my spirit, preparing me for each moment of every day according to His perfect timetable.

“The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?”

Proverbs 20:24 NLT

https://www.bible.com/116/pro.20.24.nlt

“But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.”

1 Corinthians 6:17 NLT

https://www.bible.com/116/1co.6.17.nlt

“But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.

For, “Who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?” But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.”

1 Corinthians 2:10-12, 16 NLT

https://www.bible.com/116/1co.2.10-12,16.nlt

Almighty God is still present with His children the way He walked with Adam and Eve in the garden. He only awaits our awareness. In Matthew 10:32, Jesus prompts His followers to “acknowledge Him.” Each definition of this word gives insight into Jesus’s command. To acknowledge Him means “accepting or admitting the existence, legitimacy, validity and truth of” His claim to be the “Christ, Son of the living God,” as Peter declared. (Matthew 16:16) It also means “expressing or displaying gratitude for or appreciation of” the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus that makes communion possible. Finally, it means “a show of recognition by gesture or greeting” as John concludes the Revelation (22:20) “Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!”

I am invited to “abide” in Christ, to “remain” in the life-giving Vine each second of every day. (John 15) From the moment I wake until I find sleep each night, the choice is mine. Trying to hold it all together on my own is futile! “There is no one like the God of Israel. He rides across the heavens to help you, across the skies in majestic splendor. The eternal God is your refuge, and his everlasting arms are under you.” (Deuteronomy 33:26-27a) In acknowledging Him, I find order, purpose, and rest!