The first half of this month was rough… full of things that resulted in lots of emotional turmoil.
Emotions are tricky things, aren’t they? They are a powerful part of how God created us, and without them, we would lose much of the richness in life.
But they are also quick to tell us when we’ve been hurt… and they remind us over and over and over again.
This where we have a choice to make. We can choose to dwell on our hurts, our worries, and our pain. Or we can follow King David’s example. He knew that we must sometimes choose to rise up and command ourselves.
We have the Holy Spirit inside of us, as we must side with Him and say as David did in Psalm 42:
Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him
For the help of His presence.
David commanded himself. He made a choice.
I will hope in God. I will praise Him.
We sang a song last week:
Find rest my soul
In Christ alone.
This is from another psalm of David – Psalm 62 – where he says:
My soul, wait in silence for God only,
For my hope is from Him.
This is me, the singer, commanding my soul – my emotions – to stop looking for rest anywhere else. It is me reminding myself that to hope for rest and peace from any other source is pointless.
The song continues:
Know His power
In quietness and trust
This references two verses:
Be still / Cease striving and know that I am God. – Ps. 46:10
In quietness and trust is your strength. – Ps. 30:15
When I sing these words, I am telling myself to calm down, get my emotions under control, and choose to trust my God instead.
Is it easy? Nope. But his grace is available for this. His grace is here to forgive others, forgive ourselves, and to choose to trust Him in those moments. To choose to be still and know – experience all over again – that He is enough.
I will be still, and know You are God.
Here is the song: