Show Us Your Presence

I make no secret, there's been an unrest in my soul in the past few months. I sat across from someone in November and they called the unrest, they read my mail, they eavesdropped on my mind: stick it out, dig in, stay, be, rest in. And I did. Restlessness is the lack of rest, the angst of do instead of the respite of done. It comes from not having what we think we need.

But what if it really comes from not knowing what it is we need?

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I'm working on a project that has me thinking a lot about food, about daily bread, manna, today's provision—the table of God.

In Jewish culture, the bread sitting in the temple was called the shewbread and it was replenished weekly. It was baked by the Kohathite clan and only they knew the recipe. Every week, week in, week out, the bread was set there, in the presence of God, resting there until the Sabbath when it would be replenished by a new loaf.

A secret recipe for a seemingly useless loaf?

Doesn't that feel like your life sometimes? That God is holding out on you, with a secret plan for your life that seems useless today? It causes a restlessness of the soul, right? It does for mine.

What are You doing here, I'm asking. What is He trying to show me with a secret useless bread?

The shewbread was also called the table of presence, and this stops me in my thoughts yesterday. What if the bread's only purpose is to point to something greater? What if the bread is not for provision, but to point only to presence?

I'm asking myself what to do with the restlessness in my soul, the angst of the undone, the secrecy of His plan, the uselessness I feel. What if my purpose isn't to feed, but to fear Him alone? What if that is my rest, until He replenishes?

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My friend Jennie Allen just released her new book, Restless, and she's inviting you in to ask those questions too. Comment below with the answer to this question and you have the chance to win one of five copies of Restless I'm giving away.

What is your restlessness today? Who, or what, are you resting in?