The Unhurried Word
Jesus never hurried. He was never frazzled, rushed, or frantic. Jesus never panicked. He
never scurried or worried or freaked out. He is so unlike me. Jesus is the ultimate
gravity of calm, and He draws me into the infinite mass of His glory and goodness and
in the weight of that place, I am always at peace.
Spending time with Jesus must seem like such a strange thing to anyone who doesn’t
know Him. Followers of Jesus schedule appointments and create space to talk to and
read about and write to and listen to a Person they cannot see. But the busyness of life
so easily goes unchecked and creeps in like vines in the garden that choke out the roses
we long to see in bloom.
In the presence of Christ, the relativity of time slows, and He invites us into His
unhurried world. Like Mary sitting at Jesus’ feet while her dear sister Martha scurried
and fretted, I want to sit and learn how to find rest for my soul in His gentle heart while
the crazy world around me does its crazy. But I am a creature bound by time and
choosing to sit with Jesus takes time. Actual minutes tick by when I sit and pray and
read God’s Word. Minutes that I can’t get back. Minutes I could be spending on lawns
and laundry and other laughably unimportant things. We timebound creatures feel the
pull of the ticking clock as we struggle to set aside our frantic and frazzled thoughts long
enough to hear the same still small voice that asked Elijah, “What are you doing here?”
That beautiful painful question comes to those who, like Elijah, stop running long
enough to listen. It is one of many questions God wants to ask us and more incredibly
still: He wants to listen to our response. Christ invites us to sit at His feet and learn from
Him. To take His easy yoke and upon us as He teaches us the unforced rhythms of
Grace
But sitting takes time. And we poor Americans have believed the lie that we are
in abject time poverty. The truth is that we have all the time we need to do everything
God wants us to do.
This little series is meant to encourage all of us who long to sit at the feet of the God who
created time, for whom time does not pass and for whom there are no deadlines. They
are simple reflections and lessons Jesus taught me as I spent unhurried time in His
Word. My hope is that they will encourage you to carve out an unhurried hour or two a
week and simply sit and read and listen and obey the word of our Unhurried God. I will
drop one study a week, on Friday morning, that will reflect on one of the passages we
read in the Dwell Bible Reading plan for that week. May the Word of Christ richly dwell
within us!
Week 1 – Zacharias’ Special Day
Luke 1:5-23
Zacharias was a Levitical priest, a Levite from “the division of Abijah”, married to
Elizabeth, also a Levite, “of the daughters of Aaron.” Aaron, Moses’ brother, was the
great, great grandson of Levi, who was Jacob’s (later named Israel’s) third son. The tribe
of Levi had a unique role in Israel’s story. They made sure the Jews could worship as
God commanded in the Law.
That little description of Zacharias, “of the division of Abijah” takes us back to 1
Chronicles 24 where king David had organized the Levites into divisions. It’s an
incredible glimpse into how the ancient Israelites organized their people so they could
do their jobs in an orderly way. It wasn’t chaotic. It was planned, ordered, and directed.
In a world that seems crazy, a little order feels kind of beautiful.
As we read on into vs. 8-9 we see Zacharias was chosen by lot, which was some system
of casting marked stones or sticks to determine what decision to make. Today I think we
would flip a coin. But for the Jew, the lot was how they removed partiality from a
decision – the lot is cast into the lap but it’s every decision is from the Lord (Proverbs
16:33). Someone cast lots and the lot fell to Zacharias.
Priests in that time served at the temple about 2 weeks a year. Zacharias and Elizabeth
lived somewhere in the hill country of Judah, so he was travelling, in essence, for work.
But it wasn’t just any job. Priests were chosen from thousands of fellow Levites to
perform one of the many duties at the Temple from trimming lamp wicks, to offering the
sacrifice to, in this case, burning incense. The Altar of Incense sat in the Temple, right in
front of the veil (Ex. 30:1-6) separating the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the
Covenant was – except in Zacharias’ day the Ark was gone – lost during the Babylonian
destruction of Jerusalem some 580 years before. But even an empty Holy of Holies was
a marvelous place. And Zacharias’ entering the Holy Place was a once in a lifetime
opportunity.2 He had most likely waited his entire life to enter the Holy Place, mere feet
from the Veil which separated God’s Holy Presence from the sinful presence of man.
Beyond that veil was destruction for anyone but the High Priest, and that only one day a
year: The Day of Atonement (Lev. 16).
Imagine how Zacharias felt. He’s dressed in priestly garments. Chosen by lot for a once
in a lifetime honor. Connected back 1500 years to his ancestral duty. He approaches the
Temple of Herod – one of the wonders of the ancient world – walks through the
gathered crowd, past the alter burning sacrifices, climbs the 12 steps, one for each Tribe
of Israel, and enters the Holy Place. Literal walls of gold reflect the light of the Lamp
Stand – the flickering eternal flame representing God’s Presence. Before him stands the
Altar of Incense – a golden table about the size of an end table. The text doesn’t say if he
has lit the incense, but I like to think that the moment the fragrant smoke hit his nose,
Gabriel appeared and scared the living daylights out of him.
Zacharias was surprised, even shocked, terrified. God was not. He had planned this all
along. Zacharias was simply being obedient to the Lord, faithfully carrying out his duty
as a priest. He was doing his job. And while he was working, God was working out His
great plan to bring the voice crying in the wilderness to life. God wanted someone to
come as a forerunner, a herald, to call out to those in deep darkness, “Your light has
come!” And Zacharias got to be his dad.
We too have sacred duty. God calls us to love our wives and honor our parents and work
for our grumpy bosses like we were working for Jesus Himself. He calls us to love the
brokenhearted by just being there in their grief. He calls us to the sacred spaces of
changing diapers and mowing lawns and taking kids to softball. He calls us to the holy
work of talking to our frustrated spouse late into the night and praying for our neighbors
and paying our bills on time. And in the midst of our daily duty, right when the incense
hits our nose, sometimes the Lord shows up in ways we never expected. And when He does, don’t miss it.
Don’t dismiss it. But cherish it, tell God’s people about it, and walk
out of that sacred moment full of wonder at the God who meets us right where we are.
