Slow Down And Enjoy The Trip Part 3 When You re Running On Empty Job 9:25-26 INTRODUCTION Job 9:25-26 25 Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good. 26 They are passed away as the swift ships: as the eagle that hasteth to the prey. The New Living Translation 25 My life passes more swiftly than a runner. It flees away, filled with tragedy. 26 It disappears like a swift boat, like an eagle that swoops down on its prey. All of us at one time or another has asked the age old question, Where has the time gone? o Or we have made the statement, Time Flies! o Others have made the statement, I never have enough time to do everything that needs to be done. This question and two statements about time reflect the fact that we are living in a fast pace society. o People are in a mad rush to get from one place to another. o They are in a hurry to get things done. o Fast food restaurants have replaced many of the family restaurants where families could go and enjoy a good meal together. I remember driving back and forth to Kentucky and Tennessee over the years; I wanted to get there and back with very few stops along the way. o I would often drive as fast as I could without getting a ticket. o As I get older I realized that I have been missing out on a lot of beautiful places that were along the way. o I find myself slowing down and even stopping at various places along the way. o By doing this I am able to enjoy the trip more and save fuel. It requires more fuel to drive faster. Folks we are on the journey of a lifetime. o Our journey starts here on earth and will one day end in heaven. 1
God wants us to enjoy the trip. o However, there are many that are not enjoying the trip because they are always in a hurry. There lives are running out of control. They schedules are so packed full that they have no time to enjoy life. As a result they find themselves out of energy or fuel stranded along the highway of life. This fast paced, pressure cooker lifestyle is so new to the human race that anthropologists are now studying to see how it will affect us long term. Let s examine the Effects of a Hurried Lifestyle. 1. The first is you feel more stress. o The Bible says, Overwork makes for restless sleep. o When you re always in a hurry, your personal reserves get depleted, you cannot keep charging without recharging. You have to periodically slow down. o There s nothing wrong with going fast unless it s fast all the time. Many of us act like the energizer bunny; we keep going and going and going until we can t go any more. We all need to learn to slow down. Some refer to this as burning the candle at both ends. 2. Not only that but when I run at a high speed I lose my joy. o That s the second thing. o The faster you go in life the less time you have to enjoy. You can t enjoy things at a fast pace. You have to enjoy them at a slow pace. o You cannot enjoy something fast. Enjoyment comes slow. o If your life is just constant pressure, fast, paced, you re not enjoying anything. o Let s be honest about it. You may think you are but you re not really enjoying it because you miss the details. 2
3. A third thing that happens when you re going at a fast speed I become less productive. o I m less productive when I m going fast. o You have to have slow times in your life. o I read a story the other day where they did a study on a group of men. These men worked at a high rate of speed over a period of a week. At the end of the week the men thought that they were just as productive as they were the first day. They were working at the same speed but were less productive. That may be due to all the mistakes we make simply because we go full out all the time. o Notice Job 9:25 NCV My days go faster than a runner; and they fly away without seeing any joy. I lose my joy. You have to have breaks. You have to slow down. Spiritually when I m running at a high speed the fourth thing is 4. I Miss an Opportunity To Get To Know God. o If you re moving at a fast pace in your life all the time you can t get to know God. o You get to know God when you slow down: When you be quiet. o When you become still: Psalm 46:10 says this Be still and know that I am God. Be still! You can t hear God because you re too busy and there s too much noise in your life. o The first half of the verse goes with the second half. o Be still, and know that I am God. If you are not still you will never get to know God. The only way you get to know that God is God is by being still. You have to have some times of quiet, some times of solitude, some times of stillness in your life. 3
I want to share a strategy with you that will help you to Slow Down And Enjoy The Trip. If you re serious about kind of slowing your life down to a more humane pace of life you re going to have to make five counter-culture changes that are total opposite of our culture. I. Learn the Art Of Contentment If you re serious about slowing down you don t start with your schedule. o You start in the heart. Philippians 4:11 11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. Paul says, I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. Notice the verse says, I ve learned to be content. o Paul is quick to let his friends know that he is not complaining! o His happiness does not depend on circumstances or things; his joy comes from something deeper, something apart from either poverty or prosperity. For most of us being content is not easy. o But if you re going to slow down in your life and enjoy the things of God, you have to learn contentment. o Contentment is a learned behavior. I Timothy 6:6-8 6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. Paul says There is great gain in godliness with contentment. In other words it s a valuable thing if you re godly and contented at the same time. For we brought nothing into the world and we can t take anything out of the world. 4
o So if we have food and clothing we should be content with that. He s saying life isn t about things. o I didn t have anything before I was born. o I m not going to have anything after I die. o So things yeah, I can use them. o But life is not about things so I ll just be content with what I ve got. Let me explain what contentment is not! o Contentment is not having any ambition. You ought to have ambition. You ought to want to make the most of your life. You ought to make the most of what you ve been given by God. o God says it s good to have godly ambition. o So it s not saying I don t have any goals I don t have any dreams I don t have any desires I don t have any plans I don t have any ambitions o That is not contentment. o You ought to have goals and dreams and ambitions. Contentment means that: I don t need more in order to be happy. o I m happy right now. o I have dreams and I have goals but I don t need more in order to be happy. o That s contentment. Happiness is a choice. o I ve told you several times, you re as happy as you choose to be. o You can t blame it on your circumstances. o If you re not happy with these circumstances you re not going to be happy with other ones. o There will always be something wrong. o We live on a broken planet and nothing is perfect. o You need to learn to be happy in spite of situations. o Contentment is I don t have to have any more than I ve got right now in order to be happy. 5
II. You Must Listen To and Follow the Instructions Learn to Listen Before Speaking Proverbs 1:8 8 My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: Ecclesiastes 5:2 2 Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. Ecclesiastes 5:2 (NCV) Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God s in heaven, you re on earth, so let your words be few. o He s saying here you need to watch your words and be slow to speak. Learn to listen before speaking. That s the second strategy from God s word for slowing down. It s very obvious if you watch television that we have become a nation of interrupters. o Have you noticed that? People don t let others complete their sentences. They talk over each other. You see it on talk shows. You hear it on radio programs. You watch it on TV news. People interrupt each other. Three or four people talk at the same time and nobody s listening. Everybody s talking at once and nobody s listening at all. o One of the answers is because of the speed of life we have become impatient and we re unwilling to let other people finish a thought. So we butt in. o We re so eager to say our piece, to get our point across, that we won t even take the time to let somebody leisurely finish a thought before we butt in. 6
I do this. You do this. Everybody does this. It s something we need to work on. James 1:19 Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. o Notice a couple things. If you do the first two the third is automatic. If you are quick to listen, and if you learn to be slow to speak I guarantee you, you will be slow to become angry. o If you ve got an anger problem this is the solution, the antidote to your anger. Learn to be quick to listen, and slow to speak. If you do that, you will learn to deal with your anger. Some of you say, I don t have an anger problem! o Yes, you do. o It s just you hide it. o Some people blow up and some people clam up. If a high-powered salesman comes to you and starts talking real fast. o The bottom line is people who talk real fast you re thinking, What s this guy trying to pull over on me. Are they trying to pull the wool over my eyes? Are they trying to con me? o It s the salesman who calmly asks, Can I help you out? If you need any help let me know. He isn t so pushy with words. There is actually an Internet site called SlowDownNow.org, which teaches people how to slow down their lives and their words, to slow down the pace of their lives. Proverbs 29:20 says, Do you see a man who speaks in haste? [In other words you open your mouth before you engage your mind.] There is more hope for a fool than for him. III. Have an (R&R Day) A Day of Rest and Recuperation 7
The Bible is filled with instructions about living the kind of life God made us to live. o Healthy living. o He made us, He understands us, and He knows us like no one else. o He s our creator so He tells us how to live Exodus 20:9 You have six days in which to do your work, but the seventh day is the day of rest dedicated to Me. God says rest is so important I m making it one of my commandments. God says I want you to take a day off every week. o That s called the Sabbath. o Which literally means a day of rest. So God says every seventh day I want you to do this. o It s so important that the way God made creation He rested on the seventh day. Not because He was tired God never gets tired. He rested to give us an example and say I want you to do this. The day isn t important. o It doesn t have to be a certain day just so it s a day of rest. o Jesus said we weren t made to serve the Sabbath, the Sabbath was made to serve us. What do you do on your R&R day to actually have it be a day of rest? I rest my body. o If you don t take time off your body s going to make time off. o Your best requires rest so you take time to rest. o If you don t slow down by choice, circumstances are going to force you to slow down. o God says I want you to make the choice. o I don t want it to happen that way. o You rest your body, 8
2. I recharge my emotions. o When I m tired and frustrated I m an emotional wreck and no fun to be around. o Do something that rejuvenates you. 3. I refocus my spirit. o That s worship. o You don t take a day off from God. o You worship. o Worship puts life into perspective. o I need time to be alone with God. o You need time with Him. o If you re too busy for God you re just too busy. o You and I need to have time that we can spend with God and be refreshed by His presence. I read about a pastor where one of his members got mad at him. The member said he tried to call the pastor several times on Monday and couldn t get a hold of him. The pastor said, Sorry, but that s my day off. The member said, The devil doesn t take a day off. And the pastor said, You re right. And if I didn t I d be just like the devil. IV. Pause and Pray Before Deciding I m talking about the decisions you have to make on a regular basis. When I say pause and pray that doesn t mean you wait a year before deciding something. o I m talking about ten seconds. Fifteen seconds. You may be sitting in a boardroom or a committee meeting, or talking to your kids, and you just shoot up a little microwave prayer, God, what do You want me to do in this instance? o And you wait. God, is there anything You want to say to me right now? o And you wait. God, help me to make the right decision. o And you wait. You don t tell anybody this. 9
o You don t say, Excuse me a minute. I want to pray. o You keep your eyes wide open while you re looking at that client, or you re looking at that customer, you re looking at your boss. o They ask you a question, asking you for a decision. o I ve learned to do this. o I don t even blink my eyes. o Just in a split second while they re looking at me I m going, What do You want me to do, Lord? Give me wisdom. The reason you do this is because when you stop to pray in that pause you get perspective. o And perspective is what helps you make wise decisions. o Today everybody wants to know how do to make decisions faster. o We don t need to make quick decisions; we need to make wise decisions. You think about it and pray about it and then you do it. o Now I m not talking about taking a month or a year. o I m saying when you are faced with a decision that demands an immediate response; take a few minutes and pray for God s guidance and perspective on the decision that you have to make. But in that pausing and praying before you decide you are slowing down your life to a more manageable level. Proverbs 19:2 2 Zeal without knowledge is not good; a person who moves too quickly may go the wrong way... o Zeal is enthusiasm. Being enthusiastic without getting all the facts is dumb. To say, Let s do this! That project sounds great! That opportunity sounds great! That sounds fantastic. I m very enthusiastic about it. o Enthusiasm without getting the facts first without knowledge is not wise. o It s not good. A person who moves too quickly may go the wrong way. 10
Roy Regals, In 1929, during the Rose Bowl game in Pasadena recovered a fumble and ran sixty-five yards with it in the wrong direction. He would have scored for the other team but he was tackled by a teammate. o Zeal enthusiasm without knowledge is not good. o A person who moves too quickly may go in the wrong direction. This same verse, Proverbs 19:2 in God s Word translation says, A person in a hurry makes mistakes. o Have you ever had to redo work because you were in a hurry the first time and didn t do it well the first time? Proverbs 20:25 An impulsive vow is a trap; later you ll wish you could get out of it. The principle here is that it s always easier to get in than it is to get out. o So he says, Be careful about making impulsive vows and commitments. o An impulsive commitment is a trap. o Later you ll wish you could get out of it. o It s always easier to get in than to get out. What is God saying? o Ponder before promising. o Deliberate before deciding. o Muse before you choose. o Reflect before you select. Consider your commitments prayerfully and carefully before you decide. Pause and pray before deciding. V. Trust God s Timing Ecclesiastes 3:11 11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. 11
The New Century Version says, He does everything just right and on time, but people can never completely understand what he is doing. Is fast always better? o No. It is not. o Not always. o God has a plan for your life. You know that. But He also has a timetable for your life. o Did you know that? God has not just a plan for you life He has a timetable for your life. o Here s the deal. God never explains His timetable. It s frustrating when you re in a hurry and God s not. Part of maturity in growing up, children have to learn the difference between No and Not yet. o A delay is not a denial and as an adult follower of Jesus Christ you have to learn the same thing with God a delay is not a denial. And God knows the right time and the right way. He has a plan and a timetable. CLOSING God s timing is perfect. Habakkuk 2:3 3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. These things I plan won t happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed. That vision that God has given you that hasn t happened yet, it s coming. o It s coming on God s timetable. 12
You ve got to learn to trust God and to slow down and stop complaining. 13