Champing at the bit

John 11:6, "So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place He was."

A lot people think the expression is chomping at the bit, but it is really champing. Champing being when a horse bites or chews nosily. This happens particularly when the bit first goes in their mouth, or when they know something exciting is coming up like a competition. It can also occur when they are bored and ready to do something else.

Christ is above champing in boredom, but can you imagine the boredom of waiting two days before going to Lazarus, His friend and "whom He loved." It is not as if there is some tale of a great miracle that occurred in this two days before going to raise Lazarus from the dead. And yet, in obedience, in awareness to the presence of the Father He stayed. Had He gone earlier He would have left His Father's presence. He had to wait for God to move.

And so this describes an experience of mine just the other day. I was trapped in boredom. What troubles me is that is was equally difficult to practice His presence, to be aware of Christ in me in that boredom as when under fire like in the hospital with my Dad.

Why is it that when our bodies are someplace our soul does not like we have such a hard time connecting to God? Why didn't He make this easier? I guess old habits die hard, and new experiences with God don't come easy.

At the end of the day it is easy to experience the presence of God in the comfort of my hammock. But I want to have the same experience, the same awareness in the boredom of my day, wherever that may be. Particularly if that place is where God is.

That's the test. Knowing God is somewhere, and connecting wherever that may be. Not going someplace we enjoy and having Him meet us there. That is not how it works.