We all have our battles to fight – things that keep us all night with the same thoughts and questions that plague our days: “what if“…”what now“…”why now“…and “what’s next?” We go to bed wore out and wake up unrested with no answers, only bags under our eyes and the wrinkles of worry streaking across our faces. Peace eludes us more than the fish on a Sunday afternoon at the coast.
We all have our battles to fight.
Today my friend and pastor Mike Hurt, preaching from the book of James, started a series titled “Life Hacks for Tough Times.” He reminded us to hit the pause button when times get tough – to respond instead of react; he reminded us to pray.
But what stayed with me most of all was the plain counsel of God he shared from the first part of (Psalm 46:10):”
“Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!“
I’ve been thinking about those words, “be still and know” all day.
How can something as simple as leaving all of our deepest cares, concerns, griefs and troubles in the hands of an all knowing and all powerful God be so hard? The Psalmist even tells us in (v.11):
“The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge.”
Selah
The same God who made that promise to the wandering, wicked and wayward Jews of the Old Testament reminds us again in (Hebrews 13:5): “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” He is present and powerful and still so many of us lack peace.
Myself included…sometimes.
It is far easier and more natural to worry about fearful and grieving things than it is to give them to God, patiently waiting and trusting in Him, but what would your life look like if you did?
It would look like sitting back, poll in hand and cancer in the body, trying for the “grand daddy” of all Red Fish. It would look like a blissful trip to the zoo with the grandkids after the loss of a dear family member. It would look careless even reckless and irresponsible to those who didn’t get it but it’d be right where God wanted you in the midst of it.
Yes, we all have our battles to fight but by faith and because of His grace we do not fight alone. My friend, it may only be when you stand still before Him in the most worrisome moments of your life that you will see His glorious deliverance.
The psalmist, after he finished going on about exalting the God who would be known by those who just stood still in confident reliance upon Him finished his psalm with a word ~ selah; musically it means to pause but to the child of God, it means pause and ponder the words you have just read.
I hope you will….
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