Staying In Bed

It is 2 degrees here this morning.
The wind chill makes it feel like 20 below zero.
The Northeast is being hit with frigid temperatures and record snowfalls.
News reports are warning about the hazards of being outside in this kind of cold weather.

Many set out only to find their batteries are dead when they try to start the car.
Ice crystals form on most windows; exquisite masterpieces from God’s Hands.
It is said that boiling water tossed in the cold air will freeze before it hits the ground.
It is THAT cold!

The kind of day you want to turn over, pull the covers up over your head and hibernate.
The kind of day you want to pull a rocking chair by the fire and read a book.
The kind of day you want to have a permanent cup of hot tea in your hand at all times.
It is THAT kind of day!

Sometimes we want to hibernate for other reasons.
Life is just too hard, so staying in bed seems like a viable option.
Staying in bed is never a viable option when staying in bed is a means of escape.
Staying in bed to escape gives the enemy the victory.

The enemy would love nothing more than keeping you in that bed.
Keeping you in that bed brooding, rehashing, regretting, dreading.
The enemy would love nothing more than making you ineffective for the Kingdom.

Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers food at harvest. How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man. (Proverbs 6:6-12)

The industrious ant.
A nuisance at picnics yet an example God gives us in His Word.
The hardworking ant.

We often take a Scarlet O’Hara approach to life.
I can’t think about that right now. If I do, I’ll go crazy. I’ll think about that tomorrow.
We pull the covers up over our head and hunker down in our comfy quilts.

While the enemy gloats.

Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today. (Lord Chesterfield)
The enemy says it can wait.
The Kingdom can wait.
Bed is a much better place to be.

And we listen.
And we turn over.
And we pull the covers up.

While the enemy gloats.

Hibernation is for bears; it is not for people.
We have work to do whether we feel like it or not.
Staying in bed is not an option.

Often our heart catches up.
Duty becomes delight in time.

That delight, that tenacity, that foot on the floor makes the enemy cringe.
Oh, no! She’s awake!
Your simple act of standing has significantly crushed the enemy.

Kingdom work needs to be done.
Kingdom relationships need to be strengthened.
Standing up or on own knees are the preferable positions.

Walter Brueggemann seemed to understand this in, Move Us Beyond Ourselves.

…we thank You for the many ways of ministry that are faithfully practiced in praise of You out beyond our range of acceptance, for those more radical than us, for those more cautious than us, for those in traditions strange to us, for faith families who care in ways other than our own. We pray this day for all those who stand in need of ministry: for the sick and dying, for the powerful and bewildered, for the poor who lack so much we take for granted, for the brutalized who wait for relief. We pray Your mighty Spirit upon us, that we may more fully engage in our baptism, that we may accept the costs that belong to our life with You, that we may embrace the joys that only You can give. Move us beyond ourselves, our favorite cliches, our tired resentments, our worn habits, to Your newness. Make us light, make us ready, make us open, that we may become a resounding doxology through Your passion and into Your victory. We pray in the name of Jesus crucified, the Lord of the church. Amen.

Move us beyond ourselves, our favorite cliches, our tired resentments, our worn habits, to Your newness.

If we must stay in bed a bit longer, let’s stay in bed to pray.
Speaking to God.
Listening to God.

Then, when fortified, GET UP!
Be an industrious ant for God’s Kingdom.
The enemy hates when we put our two feet on the floor ready for battle!

Move us beyond ourselves and use us for Your Glory.
Amen.