DAY 10: Be Still (Part 2)

Psalm 37 says, "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him." Psalm 46 says, "Be still and know that I am God." Zechariah 2:13 says, "Be still before the Lord, all mankind."

It's one thing to read Exodus 14:14 from the comfortable confines of your computer seveal thousand years after the fact, but put yourself in their shoes. The Egyptian army is breathing down your neck. You see the giant dust cliud from their chariots. You hear their war cry. What's the toughest thing to do in a situation like that? The toughest thing is to "be still." But that's exactly what the Lord tells them to do. It was a trust test. Are the Israelites going to take matters into their own hands and fight for themselves? Or are they going to be still and let God fight for them?

Let me bring it a little closer to home because most of us will never experience the Egyptian army breathing down our necks. But we might have a boss who breaths down our neck. And most marriages experience a few dust clouds and war cries. What do we do when we're stuck, we're being attacked on one side and it seems like there is no way out because we've got a Red Sea on the other side?

I think there is a time for negiotiating and planning and analyzing. There is a place spreadsheets and strategic plans. But there is also a time to "be still" and "let God fight for you."

Romans 12:19 says, "Leave room for God." The immediate context is retribution. When someone attacks you, don't try to even the score. That doesn't mean we don't set the record straight if we're able to do it. That doesn't mean we don't defend ourselves if we can. It just means we don't seek revenge. We leave room for God. We watch Him fight for us.

I've learned that there are times when you need to stop trying to figure everything out, stop trying to negotiate, stop trying to pull strings, stop trying to take matters in our own hands, stop trying to do things in our own strength and leave room for God.

Over the past several days, I have prayed for a dear friend who was trying to buyout a local company. He spent months analyzing and negiotating. It was a long and arduous ordeal and then he hit a wall. It seemed like a dead deal. In fact, I remember literally burying it in prayer. We prayed, "Lord, it's in your hands. You're in the resurrection business. If you want to raise this thing from the dead, you can do it." That's exactly what happened this week. I got the log awaited call from him finally. The deal was resurrected. Sometimes we need to bury things. We need to let go. My friend could have continued to negotiate and analyze and strategize, but I don't think it would have done any good. But when we "leave room for God", God fights for us!

Are you fighting too hard in managing the transitional changes in your life? Are you spending hours scrutinizing, analyzing, strategizing and planning? Would you turn to the Lord and choose to be still so that God can fight for you? He s the better Fighter, right?

(Adapted from Senior Pastor Guna Raman devotion, "Managing Transitions in a Downturn")