Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from Him. Truly He is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will never be shaken. How long will you assault me? Would all of you throw me down—this leaning wall, this tottering fence? Surely they intend to topple me from my lofty place; they take delight in lies. With their mouths they bless, but in their hearts they curse. Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from Him. Truly He is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; He is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge. (Psalm 62:1-8)
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Here I am….on my couch, curled up in my favorite blanket, watching one of my favorite TV shows.
Normally, this would be a pleasant, relaxing, and restful experience. However, it’s not…because I have an ambiguous sickness that even a steroid shot to the booty could not overcome.
TMI?
Well guess what…life gets ugly. Almost always, our own ways of trying to fix this ugliness (aka shots to the booty) are just not sufficient.
We get attacked on a daily basis with the sicknesses of this world.
Perhaps it’s the so-called “friend” that talks about you behind your back. Perhaps it’s the addiction that you try to talk yourself out of, but it always finds a way to surface and take hold once again. Perhaps it's the pressure constantly placed on you by social media, the world, and our culture. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.
There are a myriad of “perhaps”s in our day.
Surely they intend to topple me from my lofty place; they take delight in lies. With their mouths they bless, but in their hearts they curse.
So what do we do about the sickness, the attacks, or the “perhaps”s?
Here’s a place to start: Don’t give them credibility, importance, or focus.
Even though we hate these attacks and sicknesses, we give them precedence by attempting to change our circumstance with our own strength. In doing so, our intentions to be rid of our problems, in fact, perpetuate the problems.
Not only that, but we make our problems (self-inflicted or not) more important than our God.
He is always the answer! Ask yourself...Am I making my current problems or struggles more important than God?
The truth is, we expect God to get rid of all the issues in our lives if we put Him first. And when He doesn’t always do that (for good reason!), we lose trust in His plan and His desire to give us rest amidst a world of unrest.
Because we live in a world of sin, we will never be able to completely avoid the “perhaps”s. If we are honest, we are often part of the “perhaps” in other people’s lives too.
However, God takes that sad fact and gives us a place to find shelter; hope and rest in Him. I love what this Psalm calls us to do:
Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from Him. Truly hHe is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; He is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge.
When we put God first, this is our fate: We gain refuge, salvation, and, yes, rest.
That does NOT mean that all of the obstacles of life disappear. Instead, we gain a testimony of what God does with the “perhaps”s of life.
The great thing is that God redeems (and will redeem) all of these wrongs so greatly that we will forget what the struggle even felt like. In His redemptive plant, all the awful truths will become untrue.
So instead of looking at the problems right in front of our faces, let’s look forward to the day when all is redeemed…when Christ returns.
This eternal perspective will help us to constantly set our priorities straight and to put our God before all.
Today, may we choose this life, rather than choosing the “perhaps”s.
Thank you for joining us. We would love to know: Do you struggle with letting issues, problems, or circumstances gain more attention than God? How have you worked through this? How are you pursuing Godly rest? Feel free to comment in today's IG post.
And as always, feel free to share today's devotion!
Blessings,
Declare Glory
written by guest writer: Steve Sullivant
Instagram.com/declareglory
