God called me out today on a run to meet Him. You see, for me running is my worship time, my alone time with the Lord. It is when we talk and I can most clearly hear Him. Many run to relieve stress. I do too, but my stress is not relieved from the run itself. My stress and anxiety are relieved from my time spent with God, from casting my cares on Him, being reminded of His love and promises. As many of you with little kids can probably relate, that is the only time in a day that I have to myself, the only real quiet I can achieve. (Honestly, my actual “quiet time” in the mornings isn’t ever quiet. I am usually coaxing my kids to go back to their rooms, or asking them to do whatever they are doing quietly, so I can just finish reading.)
Today was hot. I am not a huge fan of hot, and I don’t like to run when it’s real hot. But, I know when He calls, I really need to go. It is in my best interest to go because there is always a blessing from my time with the Lord. As I was running (and in my mind complaining about the hot sun beating down on my head), I realized this is part of being refined by Him. He calls us and leads us through places we don’t want or wouldn’t choose go, but it is always for His Glory. It is always to make us more like Him–to bless us. My first choice was not to run during the hottest part of the day, but the Lord was calling me to it. And I couldn’t refuse.
The sun was right over my head, so I just kept my head down, trying to keep the heat off my face. All I could think of was that He is The Son. His Glory shines so brightly and is so awesome that we can’t possibly look at Him. His heat radiates so fiercely, it is all I can do to cover my face from His brightness. I was reminded so much of Moses and the Scripture that describes when God hid him in the cleft of the rock.
Then the Lord said, “There is a place near Me where you may stand on a rock. When My Glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove My hand and you will see My back; but My face must not be seen.” (Exodus 33:21-23)
All Moses could see was the Lord’s back, which was still an awesome sight. As I run, I’m looking down, trying to protect my eyes, but I can still see the effects of the sun’s rays all around me. Even though I can’t look directly into the sun, I know it is there because its rays are all around me, touching everything.
If I hadn’t answered His call to “run to Him” today, I would have missed out on a great blessing of being reminded of His nearness.
Are you being called to do something you don’t like to do? Do it anyway. He will meet you there with the blessing of His presence.
Thank you so much for your words of encouragement! the running anolagy was also great for me as a wife of a true runner, he also runs to spend time with God and hear His voice. I was also reminded today that God is truly awesome and perfect and in that I can rest even when “its hot,” and I dont want to run (obey)…. Its gonna be worth it!
Thank you!