A Low & Slow Work
Leadership Lessons Book-by-Book – Jeremiah
One of my wife’s new indulgences is watching a show on the Destination America channel called BBQ Pitmasters. This is where they bring together the best barbecue cooks around America to compete against each another. At the start of each show, three cooks will open a cooler and whatever is in there has to be barbecued. Sometimes there are things you would expect: baby back ribs, pork butt, or brisket. Then, there are those other times when the cooler is opened and the mouths drop: fish, tofurky, or some kind of mystery meat they can’t recognize. In one of the best episodes, which happened to be the championship episode, the cooks had to cook a whole pig. This wasn’t easy. There’s a science to barbecue cooking and you constantly have to watch the temperature so that certain areas of the pig won’t overcook. It takes hours and hours for the pig to cook perfectly, there’s no rushing the process. When the cooks presented the whole hog to the judges, they had to cut and present certain parts of the pig to the judges, who could tell which parts were undercooked, overcooked, or perfect. If the meat was undercooked or overcooked, it meant the cook could not control the temperature of his grill, which resulted in a loss. The winning chef was the one who could control the grill’s temperature, know how long to cook the hog, and then present the perfect pig. The secret to a good grill is to have the perfect low heat and allow the meat to cook slowly. It’s called low and slow.
Sometimes life feels like a barbecue, doesn’t it? You may be going through a difficult situation and the process to get through it has been really slow and God hasn’t given you any relief. It could be with a ministry conflict, financial difficulty, or even something personal, happening with one of your family members. But something I’ve learned is that God does some of his best work when things go slow.
Last week I talked about the prophet Jeremiah and some of the ordeals he went through obeying the Lord: the people of Anathoth tried to kill him (11:21), Pashur the priest had the prophet beaten and put into stocks (20:2), and he was thrown in a cistern where he sank in the mud (38:6). Dr. J. Robert Clinton says, “Jeremiah illustrates numerous crisis and isolation processing incidents. These incidents particularly demonstrate Jeremiah’s transparency with God and show the going deep with God aspect of deep processing. The repeated presence and affirmation of God was needed by Jeremiah especially in light of followership reaction and the deep processing involved.”
Sometimes God will allow us to go through a difficult time because it is His way to expand our relationship with Him. It’s when our lives almost has to come to a complete stop, in order to notice the still hand and small voice of God that has been calling for our attention in the midst of busyness. It’s as if the Lord says you have to go deeper before you can go farther. Sometimes there’s an area of our life that needs attention – character that needs to be developed, a habit that needs to be broken, a relationship that needs to be restored – and because the Lord loves us so much, He won’t let it go until it’s dealt with. It’s never easy but always necessary. And it’s not something that can be thrown in the microwave and solved immediately; you have to go through deep processing, like a barbecue grill, in order for you to look more and more like Jesus.
I’m mindful of the years Joseph, son of Jacob, spent in prison in Egypt, awaiting his release. I remember the forty years Moses spent in the desert before he led his fellow countrymen out of Egypt. How about Joshua and Caleb who wandered the desert for forty years, because of the disbelief of others, before they got to see the Promised Land? Then there’s Paul who spent three years in Arabia before returning to Damascus. Going deeper before you can go farther is never easy but always necessary.
Dr. Henry Cloud writes in his book, Changes That Heal, “I love the old proverb that says, ‘the longest distance between any two point is the shortcut.’ By trying to take the short route, we sometimes end up taking longer than we would have had we taken the long route in the first place. Whenever people want something ‘now,’ they will often pay later.” Read that last sentence carefully. “Whenever people want something ‘now,’ they will often pay later.” This is when you trade the important for the immediate. Don’t try to shortcut what God is doing in your life.
What does this mean for you as a believer? This means you need to intentionally slow down to notice the shaping hand of God in your life. What is He teaching you through your daily quiet times? What has the Holy Spirit been impressing upon you? Have you gone through any integrity or obedience checks and have you passed them? How has He been shaping your character?
What does this mean for you as a leader? It means you need to pay attention to the people you influence. It means investing in them, not just enlisting them. Randy Reese and Robert Loan write in their book, Deep Mentoring, “Amid the hectic pace of normal life and ministry today, the thought of slowing down in order to pay attention to the formation of others is a hard sell. We want the brightest and the best to be able to hit the ground running. And even if we do invest in them developmentally, it is mainly so we can get more mileage out of them. Sadly, many well-intended servants of the Lord are so driven to get things done for God that they neglect both themselves and the people they serve.” The church has had a habit of growing ministries rather than growing people. The great theologian John Stott, reflecting upon the state of the church said, “On the one hand, in many parts of the world the church is growing by leaps and bounds. But on the other hand, throughout the church, superficiality is everywhere. That’s the paradox. Growth without depth.”
Leaders, if you want to become a person of strong character, deep love, and biblical convictions, it will take take time. If you want to see the same in those you influence, it will also take time. It won’t be easy but it will be necessary.
Questions to Think About:
• As you slow down, how has the Lord been shaping you?
• As you pay attention to those you influence, apart from ministry activities, how are you personally investing in their lives?
© Gary Lau 2015
All rights reserved. This article may not be distributed, forwarded or duplicated without prior permission from the author.
Leave a Reply