Just a thought 6/3/08

[God] makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
[God] breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;
[God] burns the shields with fire.
"Be still, and know that I am God!
I am exalted among the nations,
I am exalted in the earth."

-Psalm 46:9-10

That little tiny sentence right in the middle of all that is one of my favorites, in some senses. But in other senses, it bothers me immensely. "Be still and know that I am God!" It sounds so simple to talk about. It looks great all written out. It sounds as if it ought to be easy.

But it's not. I think the more I try to "Let Go and Let God" the harder I find it. And even as I draw on my (admittedly rusty) knowledge of hebrew and am reminded that this literally reads "Cease striving and notice that I am God", I still find myself wondering where the solace is in this passage-- in real terms. Cease striving? Please! This whole life is made up of struggle and strife. But as I ponder it, I wonder if maybe the passage really means "Quit floundering about. Quit trying to make things happen in your way, on your time. Relax. God, who is so much bigger than any problem or any particular time frame, has it."

Perhaps I find this passage a little irritating because for a control freak like me, this seems like some pie in the sky dream. "Relax! Just go with the flow!" (Anyone who says these things to me probably doesn't know me well.) But just as I get irritated with the writer of this Psalm, I am reminded of a promise for people such as me--that comes from a completely differernt part of the Bible. It says, "If you decide for God, living a life of GOd-worship, it follows that you don't fuss about what's on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomahc, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds." (Matthew 6:25, The Message)

Just a thought...

Ok, I've been getting these daily scripture verse emails (which yes, I signed up for even though my inbox is already way crowded) and I've been trying to figure out what I want to do with them. I think I'm going to try an experiment and see what it's like to blog about them as my schedule allows, both as sort of a written devotional time for me and as getting into the discipline of writing. Some days may be longer than others. Some days just may not happen. We'll see. At any rate, I'd like to invite you into my thoughts about these things which keep shouting "Read Me! Read Me!" from my inbox.

3I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.
4-6In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we're talking about is Christ's body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn't amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ's body, let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't. Romans 12:3-5

Alright, I read this in a couple other translations and they just didn't hit home as hard. The first thing that comes to my mind is from verse three "It's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God...the only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what God does for us." We don't make God look good when we do good, rather people look at us and say "God must surely dwell in them" when we live well and rightly.
And too, some time long ago, I heard an adage that says, "God made man in his image, and man has been returning the favor ever since." I could go into all sorts of complicated theological jargon about the economic/immanent trinity, but the fact of the matter is that God isn't good because we think God is good. Rather it's that because God
is good, we dare to dream about the goodness of God.