Stay: to continue in one place, to forbear to act, to rest, to be trustful.
Years ago, I sat in a room of doctoral candidates as the professor shared about his pastorate in a small, rural church in the Midwest. After many years of pastoring in the same church, he wondered if there wasn’t something more out there for him. Then, getting restless, he remembered God asking him this question, “Are you okay if I told you to stay? Would you be okay if this is where you spent the rest of your career?” His answer might surprise you, but it was a resolute yes.
The students in the room nodded in agreement. They clearly understood something that I had not yet discovered for myself. At the time, I must admit that I wouldn’t have answered the same. I don’t know if I would have been okay with staying put.
As difficult as it is to go, it can be just as difficult to stay.
Our Innate Desire for Movement
We have a natural propensity to move—exploring new opportunities, scaling large mountains, and trailblazing new lands. There is something romantic and unbridled in the idea of “going.” In one quick scroll through social media, we are captured by someone’s new position or another’s big move across the country. We observe others going and living into what we believe are bolder and more ambitious dreams. So, when we see everyone around us making moves and setting off into daring adventures, we might be tempted to think, when is it my turn to go?
It certainly doesn’t help much that Scripture, too, indicates the significance of movement.
• To Abraham, God says, “Go to the land I will show you.” Gen 12:1
• To Moses, God says, “So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the
Israelites out of Egypt.” Exod 3:10
• To the disciples, Jesus says, “Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, proclaim this
message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse
those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give." Matt 10:6-8
• To us, Jesus says, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Matt 28:19
God is always on the move in and around us, imploring us to GO with him.
But sometimes going is staying.
Living Amongst the Graves
After an exhausting day teaching the crowds, Jesus and his disciples crossed the Sea of Galilee and came to a region called Gerasenes. Here, they were met by a man who called himself Legion, indicating that many demons most likely controlled him. He was living like a wild animal, clothe less, wandering day and night among the tombs, screaming and cutting himself with stones (Luke 8:26-27).
Seeing the torment within the man, Jesus freed him from possession by casting out the demons into a herd of pigs, that went crashing into the sea. Following this miraculous healing, the story indicates that the once-demonized man stayed with Jesus, sitting at his feet. Then, when Jesus and his disciples were getting back into the boat, the man begged to go with them. Instead, however, Jesus told him to stay put so that he might minister to the people in his village.
Although this passage is about the authority of Jesus over the demons, there are a couple of spiritual implications regarding the once demonized man in what it means when God allows or asks us to stay put.
God Asks us to Stay so that He might Minister to Us
First, even though we may want to “go,” sometimes God asks us to stay put so that he might minister to us and prepare us for the next season.
“Then the people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.” Luke 8:35
The man was no longer wandering the graves but sitting with Jesus; instead of cutting himself with stones, he was in his right mind; and instead of walking around naked, he was clothed. Jesus met him there in his suffering and restored him to complete healing. Interestingly there is no other indication that Jesus came to this region for anyone else, but this man. Then, in return, the man stays there, sitting at Jesus’ feet, like that of a disciple, and allows Jesus to clothe him in compassion. I don’t know how long he stayed there in that moment, but I can imagine that this was the only place he wanted or needed to be.
Just like the man who stayed and sat with Jesus, there are seasons where God asks us to stay put because he is more interested in where our insides are going than our outsides.
Similar to the man who stayed there with Jesus, maybe you too have opted to stay, sensing a need to sit at Jesus' feet. On the contrary, it could be that you didn't choose to stay. Perhaps doors have been closed to opportunity or circumstances have forced you to stay put. Regardless, when you are in a season of “staying,” there is an internal work being done. God might use this time to pause some of our plans so that he might reshape them. He might take this period of stillness to reorient who we are apart from what we do. It could be that in this season of staying, God is graciously giving us time to heal through life’s losses, to nurture those fragile places in our hearts, or smooth out the rough edges in our character. The act of staying allows us the time that is needed to draw near to Jesus, as his disciple. Just like the once-demonized man, it's in this place, at his feet, where God clothes us with compassion and puts us in a right mindset.
The holy plans that God has purposed for us are often preceded by preparation.
So don’t be surprised if God calls you, his faithful servant, to this season of “staying.” Don’t try to rush your way through this period of incubation and hiddenness in the underbelly of life (Ps 91:1). Allow the wintry season to do what it does, which is to create dormancy, with time to rest and be renewed. Stay tethered to what God is trying to form and shape within you here.
God Asks Us to Stay so that we might Minister to What is in Front of Us
Second, God might ask us to stay put for a season not only to minister to us but so that we might go and minister to what is right in front of us.
When Jesus and his disciples got back into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. He wanted to be with Jesus and follow Him as a disciple.
However, Jesus said,
“Stay here; I want you to go back home to your own people and let them see what the Lord has done—how He has had mercy on you” (Mark 5:19).
Although this man was ready to get in the boat and be on mission out there, Jesus wanted him to stay right here with the people in his community.
Jesus was calling him to stay and build into what was right in front of him.
It can be difficult when God tells us to remain here when all we want to do is go over there. We have dreams and visions that seem to always exist beyond our present reality. And although these plans may be good, they can become a distraction to what is right in front of us. If we are perpetually rooted in ideas out there, we might miss the beauty of what could bloom when we root ourselves in the places and in the lives of people who are right here. So, when God closes doors of opportunity out there, and you feel like he is allowing you to stay put here, pay attention to what he has placed right in front of you. God is still doing something right here in the “staying” that we could miss if we do not remain present to the season.
It is easy to lament or even isolate during a dry season and hope for a better tomorrow. However, today, and all that it offers is begging to be seen and needs us to be present.
Thoreau writes, “The man who often thinks that it is better to be somewhere else than where he is, has excommunicated himself.”
Instead of passively withdrawing and wondering why God hasn’t allowed you to go over there, try to re-engage in what God has placed in front of you here. This process isn’t always easy. It’s hard to find joy and contentment when it doesn’t feel okay to stay put.
It would be safe to assume, then, that there is an intentional work to be done in belonging to the places and the people around you. Maybe you need to stay in a conversation with a friend a little longer to pray for one another. Possibly you need to stay and re-engage in your marriage that you know is not unhealthy, but could be a lot better. It might be staying in a moment to listen to your kids (even if they are doing yet another re-enactment of Star Wars. Jesus, help me). Maybe it is listening to someone at work who needs encouragement. Perhaps it’s inviting your neighbor over for coffee or staying after church to meet someone new. You may not want to be here in this community, job, school, church, or state, but stay a while longer and see what God wants to reveal to you in this place.
An Invitation to Stay
Where is God asking you to stay put?
The truth I have learned over the years is that God doesn’t banish us to this season; instead, he invites us to stay here. Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 says, “To everything there is a season…a time to plant, and a time to reap.” Every season has a purpose, even if it is staying put on the sidelines or in the shadows. Furthermore, God doesn’t allow or ask us to stay in these places with empty hands and nothing to do. No, God is doing a work within and through us. So, although dreams and plans are significant, don’t become so distracted by the thrill of what is out there that you miss what is right here.
When staying put, don’t overlook God's grace and beauty in the underfoot of life.
After Jesus told the man to stay where he was in his community, Scripture says,
“He went on his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him, and the people were amazed" (Mark 5:20).
So, let me ask you a question,
Would you be okay if God asked you to stay put?
Let this be your declaration today—
Lord, let us be a people who go when you say go and a people who stay when you tell us to stay.
Let us not feel desperate to build out of something that you have not ordained but that you would help us find joy and contentment to build into that something you have for us here in this place—with these neighbors, with this church, with this friend, with these kids, with this job, and with this circumstance. Allow us to be present with the “right here” and “right now” mission you have set for us today. I pray that we will not rush this process but instead learn patience in the seasons that seem still or even mundane. Teach us to be available to this moment. Open opportunities of ministry and spiritual reflection in this “staying” season. Minister to us, Lord. Help us root ourselves into your words and promises and that we would be intentional in rooting ourselves into the ministry you have for us right here.
Questions to Ponder:
Where are you wanting to “go” that has been answered with a “no?” (For example, what doors of opportunity have closed that you desire to walk through? What circumstances have forced you to stay put as opposed to setting foot into your goals?)
Where is God asking you to stay put? (For example, has God allowed or asked you to stay put in a job, in the home, a geographical location, community, church, or a difficult circumstance?)
Why is it so hard to stay put? (For example, what emotions surface when someone tells you to stay here when you want to go over there?)
What are you missing by idealizing the future instead of appreciating the present?
How is God using you right where you are?
What is God shaping within you during this season of “staying put”?
What is one way to re-engage with where you are right now?
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