Disturb Us, Lord, to Strive for Your Glory

My soul seeks normalcy. Humanity naturally walks toward that which we know…what we find familiar. What we find safe and stable, we chase after and cling to. Hesitancy to step out of our comfort zones is in our nature…but such is not the life God desires for us.

I recently went on a trip with my youth group to an event called Remix in Toronto, Canada. Their website describes their mission as the following: a 5-day urban mission experience where youth groups and churches from across North America gather in one place and learn to live out their faith in real, practical ways.

During the week I was reminded of a strange, but convicting, truth: there is beauty in disturbance when it draws us nearer to God’s heart.

Thus, my new prayer for my heart, and yours likewise.

Disturb us, Lord.

Disturb Us, Lord, to Seek You for Who You Are

In 1577, Sir Francis Drake wrote a poem called, “Disturb Us, Lord” that I find particularly beautiful. The first stanza is below.

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

– Sir Francis Drake, “Disturb Us, Lord” (Stanza 1)

When we put ourselves in a box, we are likewise putting [our perceptions of] God in a box. Now, that is not to say, that we are limiting God by our expectations of Him, merely that our ability to see Him for who He is will be tainted.

Our calling is not to a life of comfort. Far from it! As children of the most high God, our calling is to sacrifice. Philippians 2:5-8 says, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

We are to have “this mind” among ourselves. Chiefly, this is a mind that is willing to step so far out of our comfort zones that we would die for the sake of Christ.

If we are truly willing to die…how much more willing should we be to live?

How willing are we to wake up each day, seeking Him for who He is, at all costs, so that we might live a life fully glorifying to His name?

Disturb us, Lord, to seek You for who You are.

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

– Psalm 63:1

Disturb Us, Lord, to Passionately Crave You

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

– Sir Francis Drake, “Disturb Us, Lord” (Stanza 2)

My youth pastor recently said something I found entirely profound. We were discussing the lack of Bibles in countries where Christianity is illegal, or hated, and the extremes Christians in such settings will go simply to get a copy of God’s word. Undeniably, because they know it is more precious than any earthly gem. He [my youth pastor] then stated, ““plenty” is a plague on the American church.”

How sincerely true this is.

There is a certain depth and understanding of God’s sufficiency for our every need that comes with utter depravity on earth. To truly value the words “God is enough” we must first understand the words, “I have nothing.”

Few of us living in the western world will ever have the blessing of knowing the meaning of such words. Few of us will truly be able to say, “I have nothing.” And I genuinely think that is a shame.

Are our hands off the very blossom of our life? Are all things ready to be parted with when He asks of them?

– Lilias Trotter

In John 4:13-15 Jesus told the woman at the well, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

From birth, we desire a deeper and personal satisfaction for our souls. We desire something real. The Spirit of God is that satisfaction…the Living Water that quenches our sincerest thirst.

Disturb us, Lord, to passionately crave You.

As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.

– Psalm 42:1

Disturb Us, Lord, To See Beauty in the Broken…Because You Are Working There

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

– Sir Francis Drake, “Disturb Us, Lord” (Stanza 3)

What would our lives look like if we saw hope in the places of despair? What if we saw mercy in the messes? And what if we saw beauty in the broken?

What if we saw Him?

God tends to show up in the places we least expect. But see, He isn’t working only among perfection. Firstly, because He alone is perfect. And secondly, because “perfection” has no need of a healer…no need of a friend. No need of a Savior.

In Luke 7 Jesus is eating with some pharisees and a shameful woman, presenting herself nearly as scandalously as a prostitute, comes and washes His feet. She touches Him. That was a horror in such a culture…she was taking all her shame and laying it on Him. The pharisees are overcome with disgust and Jesus says to them, “”A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more? Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.””- Luke 7:41-43.

…None of us are beyond reach of God’s grace. And those saved from much are often the racehorses that run fastest for Christ and furthest to reach others for Him.

– Where Faith is Forbidden by Todd Nettleton

Notice how Simon said, “I suppose.” This pharisee didn’t like the idea any more than we do. It’s uncomfortable to think about. Can God truly bring equal, if not greater, beauty from the darkest chains of sin and shame than the life of a righteous man?

I am not saying God cannot use you if you are in a positive season of life and are striving towards righteousness. Far from it! God delights in His children’s obedience! I am merely saying that a perfect man has no need for forgiveness or saving. The brokenness attracts God’s heart, because the brokenness is seeking restoration.

Therefore, let us dare to praise Him for the storms, for the tears, for the days when we journey too long down the wrong road and must turn around. Because God shows up in the hopeless places.

Disturb us, Lord, to see beauty in the broken…because You are working there.

Disturb Us, Lord…to Change the World

We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

– Sir Francis Drake, “Disturb Us, Lord” (Stanza 4)

Our calling is to be bright and beautiful lights in the darkness…to look different than the rest of the world. To be better.  Not because of who we are, but because of the God we serve and love and live for.

He is enough.

And that should change everything.

It should change our desires, our goals, our hopes, our responses. It should change the way we see people and deal with hurt and face every new day. We cannot live muffling this joyful song in our souls. We cannot hide the light within us.

You and I have a greater calling and purpose.

Because God is on a mission to change the world.

And we are a part of that.

So don’t hold back. And if the thought scares you…don’t worry. You’re not alone. But remember this: “God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control.” – 2 Timothy 1:7.

So, don’t wait. Your calling, and mine likewise, is to change the world. One little step at a time. One life at a time. Ask your neighbor if you can pray for them, write a kind note to a coworker that gets on your nerves, buy some chocolates for your grocery cashier, and give it to them with a little track, invite your cousin to youth group…be different. Be better.

Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers.

– Francis Chan, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God

Because the world isn’t only changing through people with powerful voices and sharp minds. The world is changing by people motivated through genuine disturbance by the lack of hope and the world’s craving to be seen, known, and loved.

So, disturb us, Lord.

Disturb us to change the world.

Disturb us to strive for Your glory.

Because there is beauty in disturbance, when it draws us nearer to God’s heart.