Peace, Be Still

Resting.  Abiding.  Relaxing. Waiting.

Haven't been doing much of that in the last few days (or weeks)...


Today it's dawned on me how busy I've been keeping myself lately.  Mostly over-thinking things in my brain.  Interesting observation: To look at my weeks you'd think I already was relaxing:  just reading, writing, drinking coffee... sounds pretty gelled to me!

But no, in my head I was as busy as rush-hour traffic in L.A.  Yeah, that's pretty busy--but just like that Los Angeles traffic.. it was slow moving--and I was going "nowhere fast."  You've heard the phrase, "I am my own worst enemy"... that would be the definition of my activity. 

Aside from being exhausted, yesterday's My Utmost for His Highest caught my attention:

Can a sinner be turned into a saint? Can a twisted life be made right? There is only one appropriate answer— “O Lord God, You know” (Ezekiel 37:3). Never forge ahead with your religious common sense and say, “Oh, yes, with just a little more Bible reading, devotional time, and prayer, I see how it can be done.”


It is much easier to do something than to trust in God; we see the activity and mistake panic for inspiration. That is why we see so few fellow workers with God, yet so many people working for God. We would much rather work for God than believe in Him. Do I really believe that God will do in me what I cannot do? The degree of hopelessness I have for others comes from never realizing that God has done anything for me. Is my own personal experience such a wonderful realization of God’s power and might that I can never have a sense of hopelessness for anyone else I see? Has any spiritual work been accomplished in me at all? The degree of panic activity in my life is equal to the degree of my lack of personal spiritual experience. 

“Behold, O My people, I will open your graves . . .” (Ezekiel 37:12). When God wants to show you what human nature is like separated from Himself, He shows it to you in yourself. If the Spirit of God has ever given you a vision of what you are apart from the grace of God (and He will only do this when His Spirit is at work in you), then you know that in reality there is no criminal half as bad as you yourself could be without His grace. My “grave” has been opened by God and “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells” (Romans 7:18). God’s Spirit continually reveals to His children what human nature is like apart from His grace. goo.gl/lzMwU

I think of that moment in Matthew 8 when Jesus is asleep in the boat and His disciples are panicking at the state of their situation.  They fear the wind and waves, all the while ignoring Jesus and the miracles they had seen Him do.  When they cry out, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” Jesus says, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” When we read that we are amazed at the disciples' lack of faith.. after all! they had seen Jesus do miracles right before their eyes!  But then again, doesn't God do miracles in our lives every day? Right before our eyes?  So, why so little faith?  Because we do not trust. We do not rest. We do not abide. We panic at the sight of the tempest in our lives and never acknowledge God is in control of every storm we face. 

So in the next few days I am pressing the Pause button in my "busyness" and just resting in Him.

Let us abide in Christ.


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