My dad was definitely a doer by nature. He loved being busy and making sure we were not just sitting around but doing something of significance. There were times when he was frustrated with our laziness and would say, “Get up and do something, even if it’s wrong.” Of course, he didn’t mean the last part, but he wanted to see us being constructive.
In Experiencing God, Henry Blackaby stated, “We are a doing people. We always want to be doing something. Once in a while, someone will say, ‘Don’t just stand there, do something!’ I think God is crying out and shouting to us, ‘Don’t just do something, Stand there!’”
God, first, desires a relationship with us where we get to know Him. He desires for us to adjust our lives and plans. Think of all the biblical commands to “be still” and to “wait on the Lord.” Yes, a time is coming to be doing, working hard and being productive, but first, we are called to abide in Him. In the song Abide, by Aaron Williams, he wrote, “You’re the way, the truth and the life. You’re the well that never runs dry. I’m the branch, and You are the vine. Draw me close and teach me to abide.” Abiding requires a commitment to intentionally build rhythms in your daily schedule to spend time in your secret place with Him. (Psalm 91:1; Matt. 6:6)
Abiding in His secret place is not about perfection; it is about progress. Eugene Peterson described following Christ as “a long obedience in the same direction.” Abiding is not a competition, nor should it be about comparison; it is about commitment. It means to not just be busy but, instead, standing in His presence by faithfully pursuing Him and refusing to stop or quit. It is making a lifetime commitment to the secret place: a place of intimacy. It is Isa. 40:31 (ESV): “But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”
Why are we so tired when He has promised to renew our strength and said we will “run and not be weary?” Abiding requires making God’s priorities our priorities, making first things first. When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, He stated very clearly, “…Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” Serving others is listed clearly as “second.” Loving God comes first, even before serving Him or others. Jesus then said in Matt. 22:38-39 (HCSB), “This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Loving and serving others is the second commandment. Jesus said it’s like the first commandment in that it is very dear to His heart, and yet, He clearly placed it second. Jesus was prioritizing your relationship with Him as the greatest priority, and what you do for Him is second.
“Don’t just do something, stand there.” Why is this so important? When loving God gets your first strength, you will live in spiritual health and have the inner reserve to execute the second commandment well. When your priority is backward, you will give your first strength to other things that are likely to cause you to overextend, malfunction or even burn out. Before you even know it, you are done and ready to quit.
Ministry makes it easier to find your identity in what you do for Him (Second Commandment) instead of who you are in His presence (First Commandment). You are not primarily a worker for God. First and foremost, you are a child of God. You are a son first and a soldier second, always focusing on your intimacy and relationship with Him. Love comes before labor. Jesus wanted to know this from Peter, “Do you love me?” Love comes before labor, and the order is critical to your spiritual health. If necessary, the Holy Spirit is willing to turn our lives right-side-up so we get first things first again.
In Rev. 2:4 (NKJV), Jesus says to the church in Ephesus, “I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” They are told to repent and listen to what the Spirit is saying to them. When He is finished correcting us, if we listen, we will be lovers who work rather than workers who love. The calling to the Secret Place is a calling back to our first love. He desires a people of one thing: the passionate pursuit of His face like David in Psalm 27:4, “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.”
Paul conveys this same “one thing” conviction in Phil. 3:13-14 (ESV), “But one thing I do…” pursuing “the upward call of God….” It was also the heart of Mary of Bethany in Luke 10:42 when Jesus said, “one thing is needed,” which was to sit at Jesus’ feet and hear His words. David’s, Paul’s and Mary’s one thing was the same — the pursuit of a loving, intimate relationship with their Lord and Savior. Here is the difference — putting the second commandment first causes you to be energized by a project; placing the first commandment first causes you to be energized by a person (Jesus).
Yes, we are soldiers of Christ involved in high-level strategic warfare. We are called to fight the good fight of faith. We are laborers in His vineyard, working tirelessly in the harvest to bring all the wheat into His barn. But Jesus did not die on the cross and rise from the dead only to enlist an army or a labor force. We come to the secret place to receive our battle plans from the Commander and to regain strength for our day’s labors in the fields, but even that is not the primary role of the secret place. The primary purpose is to protect us from and move us away from religious obligation and service to a close, personal, intimate relationship with Him!
