David Lee Martin

The Maker’s heart is a broken heart.

And so, I suspect, is yours.

Creator’s have sensitive souls. We are the ones who weep at cheesy movies.

We know that the cliches and happy endings have roots in a perfect world we once knew, but slipped through our sinful fingers when grandpa took a bite.

It’s impossible not to weep.

So many souls screaming to be noticed. Longing for someone, anyone, to say, “You are significant, you are important, you are treasured.”

Our work as creators gives us a platform to say those words in a million ways.

Through our stories, through our pictures, blogposts, books and movies.

There’s a commissioning to sneak past the walls of scepticism and offer clear guidance – a map leading lost travellers home.

This, I believe, is the power of the arts.

As Christian maker’s we do more than entertain.

We bring a message of hope from beyond the finish line and tell the world:

“That sense you have in your heart that there’s something more? There is!”

“That knowing that things should be different and that the world is broken? You’re right!”

“And your upspoken prayer that there must be a way back home? Let me introduce you!”

His name is Jesus, and He is the Way you’ve been looking for.

Proverbs chapter two urges all God’s sons and daughters to incline their ear to wisdom, to “apply all your powers to the quest for it.” (Proverbs 2:2 AMP)

The payoff is priceless, but time in His presence is the price you’ll pay.

Staying with Solomon, he later observes:

“Counsel in the heart of man is like water in a deep well, but a man of understanding draws it out.” (Proverbs 20:5 AMP)

Drawing from the well inside requires time and spiritual effort.

The reward?

Instead of the tepid surface waters offered by the world, you’ll drink refreshing draughts of fresh, clean and clear counsel from Heaven.

How?

Sit and listen long enough to let down your bucket.

Usually, it’s bobbing around in your brain like a plastic bottle in the ocean, bouncing from one thing to another. Stopping outer activity to focus on prayer breaks the aimless bobbing, and slowly lowers the bucket to your belly.

Jesus said:

“He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:38 KJV)

Down on the inside, at the centre of your being, is an ocean of wonder to explore.

You’ll get comfortable here, and with practice be able to draw the unpoken and unseen realities to the surface – the counsel, plan, purpose and advisement of God.

As God’s kid you do not have to wander and wonder.

God is your counsellor.

My wife knows me better than anyone else on the planet. In our 27+ years together she has also come to know my stubborn foibles.

One example is my navigation skills.

We'll climb in the car for a long journey. I confidently spark the engine and start driving down the road.

At which point she says, "Do you know where you are going?"

In all our 27 years, the answer has rarely been "yes".

She lives in hope, but my "I'll figure it out when I need to" attitude continues to drive her crazy!

Thankfully the Lord works differently when it comes to mapping out your destiny.

He knows the end from the beginning before the key even turns in the ignition.

The Lord wants to lead, and He does it well.

His directions are sure, and His ways are ways of pleasantness.

The practice of wisdom, we're told, is a pathway of peace. (Proverbs 3:17)

“Her (wisdom's) ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.” (Proverbs 3:17 KJV)

I love the following verses:

“I have taught you in the way of skillful and godly Wisdom [which is comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God]; I have led you in paths of uprightness. When you walk, your steps shall not be hampered [your path will be clear and open]; and when you run, you shall not stumble.” (Proverbs 4:11–12 AMP)

I particularly delight in this thought:

“your path will be clear and open”

It is so easy in the anxiety-inducing noise and bustle of modern life to feel pulled in every direction.

God’s gentle counsel is the antidote.

Listen.

As the ecclesiastical Preacher wisely states, "To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1 KJV).

A time to live and die, a time to plant and pluck, a time to break down and build.

Let me add another.

A time to think.

Thinking time is your hidden advantage.

“Receive instruction in wise dealing and the discipline of wise thoughtfulness” (Proverbs 1:3 AMP)

In business and life, it’s easy to believe action drives success.

“Do more, be more, get more…”

Taking action is crucial, but "busyness" isn't the same as "business."

A true business should work for you, not the other way around, and can be built with this intent.

Prosperity can be peaceful.

Your Father in Heaven has said:

“But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth” (Deuteronomy 8:18 KJV)

Attention to the presence and pathway that God has laid out pulls you from the hustle and into the place of hearing. Every step is prepared, and your job, instead of trying to make it all happen yourself, is to hear the instructions given by your Senior partner, the Holy Spirit.

If you listen carefully, even amid noise, wisdom is speaking.

“Wisdom cries aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the markets; She cries at the head of the noisy intersections [in the chief gathering places]” (Proverbs 1:20–21 AMP)

But you have to turn your ear.

The streets, markets, noisy intersections and gathering places are clamorous. They demand your attention and diminish your focus. They feed your ambitions and turn the knife on your insecurities.

The remedy is “thinking time”.

Thinking with God.

Set time to switch off the cacophony and tune in to Heaven’s bandwidth.

In our conversations, I ask specific questions I’m wrestling with or curious about. Then I wait for the answers, recording what bubbles up from my spirit.

Often I simply wait to see if God has something He wants to discuss or share with me.

And sometimes, we just rest in friendly silence.

Pencil and paper are my weapons of choice.

And the beauty of this?

Thinking leads to doing with renewed confidence because you know you are following “instruction in wise dealing” rather than taking nervous shots in every direction.

I’m a learner.

But more than that, I’m a “leaner”.

Learning to lean on the leading of God.

Proverbs says:

“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs 3:5–6 KJV)

Would you sit on this impractical object?

Yet how often do we lean on our minds, will, and emotions alone to lead us?

The fourth leg (it’s actually the first!) is God.

Acknowledging Him gives you the stability you need.

His words and wisdom take the weight.

You were never made to lift the burden of life alone. With God in your corner, He will hold you up.

The Amplified Bible defines faith and trust as “the leaning of the entire personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness)”.

I like that.

Maybe it’s time to pull a new stool to the table.