Hurried

Here’s a fantastic way to test your life pace.  How long can you wait without uttering derogatory words or pressing your hands against the wheel, behind a car that is not moving when the traffic light turns green? Today on my way to a function, the red light changed but the car to my left did not move.  In less than four seconds horns were blowing.  At the next light I did not move fast enough and again there was honking.  I guess the drivers in Houston have even less patience than the drivers in Portland.  So what’s the big hurry?  
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Solomon writes of the bride who is awakened to the sound of her beloved knocking at her door. Unfortunately she takes too long to answer . . .

Meditation
Song of Solomon 5:6—I opened to my love, but my love had turned and gone away. I was crushed that he had left.  I sought him, but did not find him.  I called him, but he did not answer.  
 
Instead of waiting, she chose to hurry after her man but at a time when it was unsafe for a woman to be wandering the streets.  “The guards who go about the city found me. They beat and wounded me; they took my cloak from me—the guardians of the walls” (vs. 7).  She should have waited until morning.  The cost of her need to hurry was a beating.

The next time we jump into our pants and attack the day like there is no tomorrow, perhaps we would do well to remember who made today and knows tomorrow.  Often frenetic activity has unintended consequences. Our dog Hero was swatted by a cat while running with me on a trail.  Not liking the cat’s rude move, the big lab chased her—out into the road, right into a car! Hero survived his hasty pursuit but not without severe bruising and putting a dent in a Volkswagen Jetta. The “guardians of the wall” charged us over a thousand dollars to fix the damage.  Categorically the cat causing the catastrophe emerged unscathed!   
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Could it be the opposite of hurried is deliberate?  Oswald Chambers wrote in Not Knowing Where, “God is never in a hurry.”  Let’s take an intentional time out and thank Him that He does not act impulsively. Perhaps you will join me in praying, O Lord, forgive me for all the times I rush in the flight of my own doing.  Forgive me for failing to plan wisely; for acting hastily in the heat of emotion thus hurting others and myself.  You know the plans You have for me.  Help me to act at the speed that brings You glory!
 
©2011Daniel York  ARR. Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  If you would like to receive these devotionals go to www.firstcause.org and click on the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.      
 
Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.  (Holman CSB)