Sometimes life is difficult. Family involves real challenges; people we care about seem remote, work can be overwhelming, grandchildren are too far away to hug and encourage, people are unreasonable, global threats spread with exponential inevitability and when the fragile knife-edge of confidence that holds it all together is compromised, it is easy to feel as if our foundation is undone too.
Most of all, we feel powerless to do what needs to be done or change what needs to be changed, and we face days sometimes that threaten to spin relentlessly toward our fears and confirm our anxieties. Welcome to 2020, where the new normal is troubling and we are unsettled too.
“Thanks a lot!” I hear you saying. “What made you think we needed to read that today!” Well, this is where Psalm 46 comes to mind.
“God is our refuge and strength, a help always near in times of great trouble. That’s why we won’t be afraid when the world falls apart…”
If ever we need a good dose of perspective, it is in this climate—global, cultural, spiritual, political. We believe we need to see situations resolved right away, but reality seldom looks like that.
Don’t misunderstand, I want to see everything that is causing me anxiety to quickly resolve; I do not like to carry burdens, to wake up in the morning with something gnawing at my gut, to wonder with so much uncertainty.
But at the same time, I have to understand that time is not only the great healer, it is a necessary ingredient of effective change.
So what to do in the meanwhile? How do we move from paralysis to peace, from fear to fulfillment and from trouble to triumph? The answer is belief, the deliberate, intentional choice to believe. The grasping at then holding onto faith.
Psalm 46 continues:
“Nations roar; kingdoms crumble. God utters his voice; the earth melts. The Lord of heavenly forces is with us! The God of Jacob is our place of safety.”
Peace—in every way—Derek
