Confidence in God.

Our lives are so full and there are so many people and things drawing upon us that we can so easily miss the most important things in our lives.

It’s too easy to get up and to get going with our days feeling all is well. Circumstances about us are in good standing, we’re being productive, we’re in good relationships and we’re enjoying the fruits of all our labors. Then, something happens to derail our serenity. Someone or some circumstance makes us anxious, fret or fear. This fear can grow as we ponder upon it more and more.

Then we wonder, what has God done? Why has He let this happen in our lives? Well, let’s backtrack a bit. In our lives and in our busyness did we take the time to “be still”? Did we take the time to talk with God? Did we take the time to rejoice in who God is in our lives? Did we take the time to thank Him for all the good?

Even when we’re going about doing and doing we can easily forget or take for granted the real presence of God in our lives. This causes us to be vulnerable to anxiety, to fretting and to fears when something doesn’t go right. We focus on the storm clouds in the present or in the horizons of our lives rather than focusing on the ever-present God in our lives.

We lose confidence in God.

If this is the case, then how can we get back on track? The first thing is to acknowledge this to God and to ourselves.

Then we do need to be still. We daily need that time where we’re quiet with the LORD so that we can truly hear that still small voice. This is when God shares His heart and reveals to us where we need to clear or to clean up some things in our lives. None of us lives perfectly or can rest on yesterday’s righteousness or faith.

Daily walks and talks with God are necessary.

Psalm 46:10 is often quoted to give security and comfort. But, if you read the whole of the chapter you realize that this is a song of acknowledgment and praise to God. This is a psalm that shares very troubling and deep problems surrounding the people of God. In that, it gives instruction to not fret because of troubles. Being still is more than ceasing from movement. It is a command to stop striving and to stop fearing. Why? Well, go back to the very first verse – ‘God is our refuge and strength’.

In a sense, we can interpret this as God our Father as a parent saying to the child, ‘snap out of it!’ I’ve got you and I’ve got this! This chapter and verse call us to refocus our confidence in God. As a child, we have complete confidence in our parents to care for us and to handle all of life’s events.

So, how do we ‘be still’ or to ‘snap out of it’?

Acknowledge. First, acknowledge who God is. Meditate on this…direct your heart and mind to be in awe of your wonderful God – your Abba Father. Acknowledge that you’ve allowed a person or circumstance to gain priority in your heart and mind.

Be Still. Take the time to truly be still in an active way. Quiet your heart and mind for a period of time to meditate and to listen to God’s speaking and working in your life. Shut out the world and your own mind for some time to be still with God.

Assess. What in your life caused you to fret? Was it something within your control or something you allowed in your life that shouldn’t have been there? Was it someone’s action or comment? Whatever it is, did you give it more importance in your life and in your thoughts than it ought to have had? Did you correct an act or action you did that you shouldn’t have? In other words, clean house. If there’s something in your life you’ve allowed that shouldn’t be there – acknowledge it and clear it out! Be done with it!

Put things in perspective. Just how impactful and important is that person or event in your life? Is the effect for a short time or for a long time? Can you learn from this? Is God teaching you something? The answer is God is always teaching us and He is allowing us to make decisions. We either grow and learn from them or we need to make a change of direction in our lives – we need to weed out decisions and things we’ve allowed that shouldn’t be there.

Place your confidence where it should be. If we’ve become busy doing and going and have neglected to acknowledge the present God in our lives we will be subject to fretting and fear when circumstances become difficult or dark in our lives. We’ve gone along on our own steam for a while and thinking that all is good when in fact we’ve not tended to the most important thing. We need to focus our attention in heart and mind on our God and be in awe.

Truly, focus on all that you know about God. Focus on who He is. Focus on His character, His power, His strength and His love for you. God is the ultimate parent who truly loves and will protect His children.

Be still. Be in awe. Be confident in God.

Exodus 14:14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.

Psalm 62:5 For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.

Job 6:24 Teach me, and I will be silent; make me understand how I have gone astray.

Psalm 131:2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. 

Isaiah 32:17 And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness, and trust forever.

1 Thessalonians 4:11 And to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you.

James 1:19 My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.

Ecclesiastes 3:7 A time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak.

Psalm 119:15 I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways.

Joshua 1:8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

Luke 5:16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

Psalm 46:10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Make it a daily habit as Jesus did to often withdraw to a quiet place to be with God so that your heart can be established in Him…so that in all things and in all ways you will exercise confidence in God.