Wait and Be Still, or Go and DO

So many times in the Bible it tells us to wait, be still, be patient, sit at His feet, be quiet, listen....

Exodus 14:13-14 (New International Version)

13 Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."

Psalm 37:7 (New International Version)

7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when men succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.

Psalm 46:10 (New International Version)

10 "Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."

Then there's the story of Mary and Martha:

Luke 10:39-42
39She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. 40But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"
41"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, 42but only one thing is needed.[e] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

Jesus is telling Martha to calm down sit at his feet and listen!!!

Ok...so how does all this sitting, and being still, and being quiet match up with: go, and do, and get up, and follow me, and take care of widows and orphans; because I see all these words and passages as ACTION. He also tells us to LOVE our neighbor and then tells us in a parable what this means and it is full of action and doing. Not a lot of sitting and being still.

Luke 10:25-37 (New International Version)

The Parable of the Good Samaritan
25On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
26"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"

27He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'[a]; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[b]"

28"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."

29But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

30In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two silver coins[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'

36"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"

37The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."
Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise

Here he says GO!!!

Mark 16:15 (New International Version)

15He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.

Then there's Faith which is FULL of action

James 2:14-26

Faith and Deeds
14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds."
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.

19You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

20You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless[d]? 21Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,"[e] and he was called God's friend. 24You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.

25In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.


James 1:27 (New International Version)
27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

So I was asking the Lord how this all matched up...seems a bit contradictory...and here's what I learned...

We are to be still and listen and sit at His feet, and He will give us the heart and the desire and the faith to take action and LOVE our neighbor, and to follow Him, and to do good works, and to take care of widows and orphans. He will sit us down like we do our own children when we sit them down and tell them to just be quiet and listen to me, then we explain to them what we have for them to do.

Because each of us has a purpose and if we sit with Jesus and listen He will tell us, and He already has in His Word, but He will also give us specific for each of us to do, but we must sit down at His feet, be still and listen. And then when He shows us WE BETTER MOVE. It's like when I finish telling my kids what is expected of them and what they need to do and I have been clear with instuction they BETTER MOVE!!! No dilly dallyin around...just move and do what I said.

Well, that is no different with God. He has told us in His Word what to do and who He is, and He will reveal Himself and our purpose when we seek Him and Listen and spend time with Him and His word and then our hearts our changed and we want to do what He has for us and we want to GO and DO and LOVE and SERVE