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| Revelations and Glory series |
We have all gone through dry seasons where we feel disconnected from Him, seasons where we don’t see revelations like we used to. Why does this happen? What causes these seasons to sneak up on us? Whereas we have seen why we want to overcome these seasons, today we’re going to look for how we do that by understanding what keeps us there. Whereas we saw the encouragement in Scripture to desire to pursue Him, now let’s see the exhortation to actually do it.
Last time we saw that Paul’s instructions about what keeps a person from being able to eat food were also given to teach us about God’s principles for spiritual food (revelations from God) as well. We saw the theme of these instructions was that we must be willing to work if we want to eat. We must be willing to “seek with all our heart” if we want to find. But the rest of this passage gets so specific and shows us four things that keep us in these dry seasons.
(2 Thessalonians 3:10-12, NASB)
Discipline
First, Paul describes those who are “leading an undisciplined life”. That word for “undisciplined” can more directly be understood as “lacking proper order”. I can think of no more perfect word to describe the pattern that I slip into over and over, where I slowly forget the importance of spending time seeking revelation from His word in His presence. I’ve forgotten the “proper order” of things and reduced the importance of what is essential to my spiritual health. What’s more, over time I eventually see and feel the effects this has on every aspect of my health.
When we’re in a dry season, this is the first question we can ask: Have I forgotten the importance of spending time with Him, spending time meditating on His Word?
Idleness
Paul goes on to describe these people as “doing no work at all”. When we think of applying this to spiritual food, it reminds us of something that’s easy to forget: Revelation does not come without work. I can certainly attest to that. I’ve very much found that the more time I spend pursuing revelation, seeking it out in the Bible and asking God to help me understand what I’m reading, the more moments I have where God surprises me with a new revelation. (You’re reading one of these examples now.)
When we’re seeking to overcome these seasons, we have to address the issue of idleness, putting the effort and the time into meditating on His Word and asking for His revelation. It’s only when we are seeking that God allows us to find.
Busyness
In describing the problem, Paul takes it one step further by saying these people were “acting like busybodies”. That word for “busybodies” is rarely used in the New Testament, but its most fundamental definition is “to waste one’s labor about (a thing)”. Here we can see the progression of what Paul is walking us through.
First, we were told to put things in their proper order, to remember what’s important (spending time with Him). Then, we were reminded that there’s an aspect of work to all this, we must be active and engaged in our time with Him to really receive revelation. Now, we are being cautioned to not waste that work and effort. When Paul uses this word translated as “busybody”, at a fundamental level he is describing being busy but being unable to produce something of true value.
How does this apply to our time in meditation, in pursuing revelation? If we are busy pursing revelation without His help, we are wasting our effort. As we’ve seen in this series, it is God who has hidden the matter and our intelligence will never find it out. If we really want the kind of revelation that changes us, we must receive it from Him.
I’ve been here. I’ve been consistent in my Bible readings, putting the effort in to understand while I’m reading, but I’m still stuck in a dry season. I may be busy, working to understand, but that work isn’t producing life. If this sounds familiar to you too, this warning is for both of us. We cannot do this apart from Him or we are merely wasting our effort. More than anything, this is about pursuing Him, seeking to know His glory (like we talked about in the first post), not just seeking for more understanding and knowledge.
this is about pursuing Him, seeking to know His glory (like we talked about in the first post), not just seeking for more understanding and knowledge.
Our Own Bread
At the end of this passage, Paul has one more lesson for us when he tells us to “eat [our] own bread”. In saying this, he’s explaining that we are not supposed to be filled with someone else’s bread, with bread someone else has worked to have. Now, Paul was obviously not discouraging hospitality or prohibiting eating in one another’s home. Instead, he was correcting the person who was relying on this as his only source of food. Rather than taking advantage of other’s hospitality, he was to eat his own food as well. By extension, maybe he should even host a dinner for others and give hospitality as well as receive it.
Let’s apply this spiritually. God did not intend for our spiritual hunger to be satisfied solely with someone else’s revelation. Obviously, we are permitted and encouraged to receive spiritual food from teachers in the church on Sunday and throughout the week, but we were never meant to rely on this alone. Instead, we are called to work to receive our own revelation from the Father as well, even to share that revelation with others to encourage them also.
Part of the reason God designed it this way is because the benefit of revelation comes through the way it is revealed (otherwise it’s just information). When we walk hand in hand with God as He reveals the truth to us, we are surprised by it and inspired to be more like Him in the process. The truth is built on the foundation of our relationship with Him rather than on the sand of anyone else’s character or credibility. This process of revelation deepens our relationship with Him, which provides grace and strength to change rather than just information about what we need to change. It really is beautiful.
Working Peacefully
While he tells us about what holds us back from being able to eat, Paul also describes our aim. In summary he tells us “to work peacefully”. In this word “peacefully”, he is describing a work that displays an inner peace/stillness that comes only from being reliant on God. This description provides the perfect summary to what we’ve seen here. It balances the focus on work with a picture of being at peace in this work by relying on Him to bring the fruit (the revelation) rather than striving to accomplish it on our own. I hope that this series has been helpful to you as we walked through the foundations of God’s glory, the role of that revelation plays in changing us, the need for spiritual hunger, and the application of these things here as we work to overcome dry seasons. Don’t forget to follow us as we get started on a new series next time!