Can you sit for a while?

A friend of mine sends me these devotionals and they
minister to me everyday. It's scary, but it shouldn't be,
that they are always applicable to my current situation.

Read and enjoy, and then be willing to spend some time
sitting still in the presence of the living God!!

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Genesis 15:1-21 (emphasis on v. 12)

Whenever God gives a vision to a Christian,
it is as if He puts him in "the shadow of His hand"
( Isaiah 49:2 ). The saint’s duty is to be still and listen.
There is a "darkness" that comes from too much
light-that is the time to listen.

The story of Abram and Hagar in Genesis 16 is an excellent
example of listening to so-called good advice during a
time of darkness, rather than waiting for God to send the light.
When God gives you a vision and darkness follows, wait.
God will bring the vision He has given you to reality in
your life if you will wait on His timing.

Never try to help God fulfill His word. Abram went through
thirteen years of silence, but in those years all of his
self-sufficiency was destroyed. He grew past the point
of relying on his own common sense. Those years of silence
were a time of discipline, not a period of God’s displeasure.
There is never any need to pretend that your life is filled with
joy and confidence; just wait upon God and be grounded in Him.
(see Isaiah 50:10-11 ).

Do I trust at all in the flesh? Or have I learned to go beyond all
confidence in myself and other people of God?
Do I trust in books and prayers or other joys in my life?
Or have I placed my confidence in God Himself, NOT in His blessings?

"I am Almighty God . . ."— El-Shaddai, the All-Powerful God
(Genesis 17:1 ). The reason we are all being disciplined is that we
will know God is real. As soon as God becomes real to us, people
pale by comparison, becoming shadows of reality. Nothing that
other saints do or say can ever upset the one who is built on God.