Lord, there are times when I must be a “Do Nothing” disciple. Those times are when everyone else is scurrying about in a frenetic and distracted manner. Sometimes true spiritual strength, as Isaiah says, is to “sit still” when the emergency arrives (Isaiah 30:7, KJV).
As You know, Lord, it takes an enormous amount of strength to be inactive when such inactivity, to the natural mind, is irrational. How irrational (seemingly) was Moses’ command, “Stand still, and see the salvation [deliverance] of the Lord” (Exodus 14:13, KJV). To do nothing when the enemy was pursuing so hotly was the height of foolishness! Yet Moses’ command was a shrewd understanding of what an emergency was.
Lord, an emergency does not mean disaster to a disciple; it means a crossroads. The emergency means God’s word is vitally at stake. The emergency gives rise to the question, “Is your God … able … ?” as King Darius asked Daniel in the lions’ den (Daniel 6:20, Amp.). The den was not Daniel’s death chamber but his pulpit. There God’s word was vindicated.
When Gladys Aylward, a missionary to China, was summoned by the prison warden to stop the convicts from rioting in Yengchang, it was an emergency—a call to put God’s Word to the test. Was God able to protect His servant as she stood in front of the murderous prisoners? God was! And by that “emergency” God’s Word had free course from then on in that Chinese city.
There were times when Jesus opened His mouth and taught marvelously. But there were other times when He “gave … no answer” (John 19:9). So there are times when I must make no excuse, cite no reason, but just sit. This is what it means to “be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10, KJV).
“For thus the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said, ‘In repentance and rest you shall be saved, in quietness and trust is your strength’” (Isaiah 30:15).
Daily with the King 