Dwell Richly {Team Journal}
Our team journal was written for you today by our Administrative Director, Christina Von Moll.
I sat next to my husband and listened to him pour out his frustrations of the day. He had spent the better part of his eight hour shift wrestling with one problem. This isn’t the first time I’ve lent an ear to this dilemma. He had been struggling to find the solution to this problem for weeks on end. Every day going into his office and spending hours writing algorithms to solve ONE problem. As I listen to his steady drawl, he said quite simply and without much flourish, “Maybe the problem has no solution.” My husband and I are similar in a lot of ways and we differ in a lot of ways. Where my husband is slow and steady, I tend to rush and stumble often. While he can work on a single problem for weeks, if the solution doesn’t come to me within the first hour I huff in frustration, give up, and move on.
Towards the end of 2017 I began praying about where the Lord would lead me in the new year. Some pretty impactful decisions lingered over our family and I was in desperate need for a direct answer. I needed to hear a YES or NO; I wanted wisdom and discernment. “Give me a word, Lord. Lead me this year in the way I should go!” He did lead me. Right to Matthew 6.
‘Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”’
Matthew 6:31-34
Seek first the kingdom. Do not be anxious. My plea back to the Lord, “That’s all well and good but how?!” Here he led me to Colossians 3:16.
“Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
Dwell richly. I wish I could say I was satisfied with that answer, after all it was wisdom straight from the Word of God, but I was not content. I didn’t have the time to seek the Kingdom first. What did dwelling richly even mean in the midst of my problem. I was frustrated. I exclaimed in my heart the words I had taken right from my husband, “maybe the problem has no solution!” Then in a moment of quiet reflection I heard that still small voice, “I AM.” There it was. The answer. Seek first his Kingdom, let his word dwell richly because no matter the problem, the Great I AM was the solution.
He wanted depth.
He wanted to dwell richly in me.
As I continued to reflect on this revelation in prayer I found my heart slowly backsliding into anxiety. Here’s the thing, I thought I had been seeking the Kingdom, I thought his Word was dwelling in me. I read my Bible, I went to all the studies, read all the books, listen to all the podcasts. I consumed all the things in the pursuit of the Kingdom. In my grasp for more knowledge, I forsook wisdom and thus became a fool. I was in shallow waters, letting his truth skim the surface because I had forgotten to go to his Word for the purpose of knowing Him. He wanted depth. He wanted to dwell richly in me. I was once again letting my relationship with the Lord be defined by my circumstances.
I was losing my grasp on the true answer by rushing into the practical. I was desperate for knowledge so I could make my own answer. In doing this, I was not letting the Word dwell richly. I was quenching the transformation that was offered to me from renewing my mind. I was too focused on getting more and more knowledge to have the right answer to this life problem. I was not seeking his Kingdom; I was seeking my own.
I was a prime example of missing the point. Sisters, don’t be afraid to let your time studying the Word be slow, giving it the opportunity to abide in you and enrich your heart. Growth in wisdom is a process that will span our entire Christian lives. Don’t strive for all the things with an expectation that you will have all the wisdom, and in doing so forget that the Lord is the one who gives wisdom. It isn’t about the YES or NO. It is about I AM.
Christina wants to live in a world where coffee breaks are mandatory and kids actually sleep through the night. When she's not wrangling her two tiny children, you can find her binge-watching seasons of "The Office" or curled up with a good book and a cup of coffee.
Her favorite Scripture is 1 John 3:1-2, ESV.