Rhythms of Grace

Matthew 11:28–30 (MSG)
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me — watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

We are called to be Christians who will be men and women after God’s own heart, just like King David was. To chase after God’s heart is to be close to Him. Think about it — it is not easy to hear a heartbeat; one has to be close, one has to put away the noises and distractions of life, draw near and sense the pulsing rhythm of God’s heart. A heartbeat is soft and gentle, just as the voice of God is. As we seek God, we must learn to be still in His presence in order to hear his voice.

1 Kings 19:11–13 (NLT)
11 “Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And a voice said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Life is full of ups and downs — there will be windstorms, earthquakes and fires and these are likened to problems and distractions — those which sweep us away, swallow us and burn us — which come our way. It is interesting to note that as we read in the passage above, the windstorm, earthquakes and fire were deliberately caused by God (The Lord passed by). There will be times when God will allow problems and distractions to come our way as He knows that if we can learn not to let them carry us by, we will eventually hear His gentle whisper.

This is what resting in God truly means — to cast our cares and worries onto Him so that we can focus on walking with Him and working with Him. As we rest in God’s presence, with the cares and worries laid down, we will learn and understand the unforced rhythms of His grace. It is not about pushing and forcing our way through, but it is about aligning our heartbeat with His. Imagine a heart which is beating fast and hard all the time — is this a good sign? Probably not as the heart is being overworked, right? Imagine a heart which is beating gently at a steady pace — this is a healthy heart that emanates the unforced rhythms of His grace.

So what happens when we align ourselves with the divine heartbeat of God, and we hear His voice?

Acts 13:22 (NLT)
But God removed Saul and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.

The next step is to obey and do what God says. King David was given this honour of being the man after God’s own heart not only because He understood the heart of God, but because He did what God told him to do. We hear as we are one with God’s heart, but do as we are obedient to His word.

Looking back at Matthew 11:28–30, Jesus said He would show us how to do it, and He invites us to watch how He does it. The question now then is will we do what He calls us to do?

Find out more about the amazing church I call home: http://www.heartofgodchurch.org/