Doing or Praying?
Learning to Rest in God

Article written by Phil Bray

            We are addicted to “doing” aren’t we? It is really hard to stop, to wait, and entrust a situation into the hands of God. We become restless, nervously casting about for something we need to do, should do, or must do in order to facilitate the outcome we are desiring. I need to work harder, go to church more, read my Bible more, or give more. We don’t feel connected to God and so we immediately start going through a mental catalog of what we need to do differently in order to bring about the feeling of closeness and peace we are longing for. 

            Perhaps we are involved in a ministry at church and we are not seeing the kind of results we expected. We are not seeing an uptick in attendance or a regular flow of people into the baptistry. We immediately start going through a checklist of what we need to do better don’t we? Or it could be that we are seeing growth and success at this time. We start attributing it to our actions, our habits, our hard work. We write a book about it so others can plug the same activity coins into the slot of God’s providential vending machine and receive their blessing just like us. 

            Maybe your struggle is political, or community focused. There are laws and organizations, amendments or politicians to elect and so we throw ourselves into the fray of endless work. We do … a lot. We are convinced that doing is the key to success, growth, and gladness. When we don’t experience those blessings we assume we are just not doing the right actions. We go back and try harder, concentrating in order to secure our blessings.
 
            I think we need to repent of our addiction to “doing” and learn from Jesus. “But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and great multitudes were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But He Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.” (Luke 5:15-16). Jesus’ ministry is picking up steam. Thousands are streaming to him for hope and healing. They come to hear his words and to be restored physically. He is popular and the crowds just keep coming. But what does Jesus keep doing? He slips away to pray. Jesus seems to prioritize prayer over preaching, healing, and activity. Activity has its place. Yet, what matters most is relationship with God the Father. Jesus was not fulfilled by the “success” but by His intimacy with the Father. He wanted to be alone with God. 
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            So many times I fear that we are so busy working for God we do not have time to spend with God. Many times our activity and endless “doing” is not really for God. We are not craving more time with God, but with the idol of success, importance, or control. We work and do and go in order to have what we believe will satisfy the longing of our soul. Jesus knew that the success of this world would not satisfy. God the Father satisfies. Jesus went to God and refused to be distracted from His pursuit of God. In fact Jesus would spend an entire night alone with God in prayer - delighting in conversing with God more than sleep. I want to want to pray like Jesus. I want to want God like Jesus. I want to be satisfied in God like Jesus.