Women's Devotional: For Women, by WomenExemplo

Too Busy

We face the same choice that confronted Martha. We can dismiss the implications of Jesus’ words for us, especially when our time is limited and we are juggling so many other demands. Or we can face our need and begin working to know God better. Whatever we decide, we must not forget who puts this challenge before us and the depth of his concern. The real choice is not whether we will become thinkers or doers. We are called to be both. But we will be better at both if we heed Christ’s call to dig deeply into the heart of God. This never means stepping out of life to devote ourselves to something abstract and useless; rather it means to plunge into the very essence of life. We were made for this, and it is only as we grow in our understanding of God that we will satisfy the deepest longings of our hearts and find the meaning we ache for.

But even more, we need to know him. Mary and Martha learned the hard way, and we do too. If my own struggles have taught me anything, it is that my greatest need is to know God better, and I am not alone. To be blunt, life is simply too demanding and overwhelming at times to think I can manage without knowing the one who rules the winds and waves that batter my little vessel. We ask too much of ourselves to try to trust a stranger. Neglecting our need to know him better is, as Dr. Packer so wisely warns, “to sentence ourselves to stumble and blunder through life, blindfolded, as it were, with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds you.” We hurt ourselves if we shrug our shoulders and walk away.

It is time we started. There is much to do and more to learn.

Not even a lifetime will be enough to know God completely. But our smallest efforts will be richly rewarded, for “the time it takes to dig deep into the heart of God is often repaid by striking a vein of gold or an oil gusher. The effort is repaid with joy and power beyond all expectation.”

—Carolyn Custis James

Reflection

• Do you consider yourself to be more like Mary or Martha?
• How did this devotional help you to realize that you can be both a thinker and a doer?
• What can you set aside right now in order to still your mind and hands long enough to listen for God’s voice? Deliberately sit still for a few minutes and ask him to reveal himself to you in a new way.