Pastor Cameron spoke on seeking the face of the Lord last Sunday, and I have a confession to make. Sometimes I don’t feel like it. Sometimes I just want to ignore the Lord, just live my life, and make some progress on my to-do list. I want to focus on solving the problems in front of me, and take a break from daily devotions and prayer. And on those days when I’m prioritizing earthly things, and devaluing time with God, it’s usually because I’m thinking of God as distant, and disconnected from “real life.”
I’m sure I’m not alone in this experience. We all struggle to some degree with the decision to seek God, or to try to “get things done.”
Scripture talks about how we’re supposed to be trees that are supposed to bear fruit. How can we make the decision to spend time with God, or get about the work of being productive?
In Ezekiel 47, God’s prophet has this vision of God’s temple. And in this vision there’s a stream that’s flowing from underneath the front door of the temple. There are fishermen along the shore. Verse 9 says: “There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; everything lives where the river flows”…
“Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing” (verse 12). Once again, everything lives where the river flows.
John gets this same vision from God in Revelation 22: “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
These trees are having no problem with fruit. And it’s not because they’re working hard to make it happen. The fruit is grown because of where they’re planted: by the river.
It’s not unimportant that God takes Ezekiel into the stream, deeper and deeper. To his ankles, to his knees, to his waist, and then above his head. We’re meant to be in that river. We’re meant to experience the Spirit of God that proceeds from His throne. And it’s in His presence that we come alive.
Jesus said seek first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and that “all these things” would be added unto us afterwards. God knows what we need. Give the firstfruits of your time and attention to Him. It’s better to be in the presence of the Lord with a full to-do list, than to have gotten everything done and for the Lord to say, “You never spent time with Me.” God, help me to jump in Your river first.