Riding on the Rim

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Psalm 84:1-2 How lovely is Your dwelling place, O LORD of Hosts! My soul longs, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

What it is speaking to me:

You ever had a slow leak in a tire? Before the days of tire pressure monitors being built into your dashboard, there was a world where you didn't know moment by moment how much air was in your car tires. I know, crazy right? How did anyone drive???? You could get a slow leak, and suddenly hear a grinding sound while driving down the highway. Pull over, and you find yourself riding on the rim.

There is a version of ministry life that looks really full. Calendar full, people calling, sermons to write, meetings to attend, visits to make, problems to solve. And somewhere in the middle of all of that doing, you can seem to lose the One you were doing it for. You don't mean to. It happens slowly. Like a slow leak in a tire, you don't notice it until you're riding on the rim. There is a difference between being busy for God and being close to God.

The Psalmist wasn't writing about a busy week at the church. He was writing about aching for God. His soul didn't just want God, it fainted for Him. That is not someone going through the motions. That is someone who knows what it feels like to be near God, and can't stand the thought of being far from Him.

When is the last time you actually longed for God? Not for answers, not for help with ministry ideas, not for His blessing on the thing you are already doing, just for HIM? Ministry can quietly become the replacement for the thing it was supposed to point to. If we lose Him in the middle of doing His work, we haven't just lost our joy or our motivation. We have lost everything. That tire has run flat.

At the end of the day, ministry without intimacy is just a job. God is not our ministry resource. He is the whole thing.

What is it saying to you?

So where are you right now?

Is your heart crying out for the living God?

What are we going to do about it?

Before you do any additional act of ministry today, sit down with God. Not to prep. Not to ask for something. Just to be there.