Skylar's Blog & Podcast

This doesn't make total sense at first, but think about it: when battling fatigue & anxiety does fighting and activity offer us the victory, or is it resting and daring to be still. What about disease? Many of you have had surgery to have something fixed or taken out. What would have happened if you decided not to rest under the surgeon's knife? There are other scenarios that come to mind, but I think we get the gist.

One of my favorite stories of the Bible takes place in Exodus. The Israelites have been allowed to leave Egypt after many years of horrendous slavery, and just as they have tasted free air the Egyptians begin chasing after them. All of a sudden the Israelites end up at the edge of a HUGE sea, and are stuck between one of the biggest rocks and hardest places. They begin to call out to Moses, outwardly expressing their fear and questioning why God would bring them out of slavery to die, and then God answers through Moses:

again. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent."

Exodus 14:13-14

Does it take more courage to stand up or to be still and trust the hand of another? I would wager the second. If we are the one's taking the initiative then we are in control and we, at least according to us, can control the outcome. In my opinion, the first kind of courage, where our trust is put in ourselves, is a cheap imitation form of courage. It is a shadow of real courage. Real courage is kneeling in front of another, admitting we have little to no power over our circumstances, crying out for help, and then trusting the situation with them. This is the courage God calls us to. Read w/ me Psalms 46:10:

What happens we courageously still ourselves in front of God? He does the miraculous and gives us the victory. However, the victory isn't what we expected. Our victory is not always winning. John tells us what our victory is:

1 John 5:4

We may not get the outcome we desperately wanted, but instead we get something better, something eternal. This something cannot be breached and it cannot be beat. If we will dare to be courageously still in front of the God who is in control of all things we will be rewarded with a peace beyond understanding because we are resting in Him. In the words of an infamous actor: "Winning!"

As we go on living our lives this mixing of realities seeps into our relationships, too. We need our friends need our friends to do this, and we need our friends to not do that. Finally, it finds its way into our relationship w/ God. This attitude is most clearly seen in Paul's argument w/ God:

Paul believed this "thorn" needed to be removed. You can see this in his pleading. If his ministry was going to succeed and if his life was going to be all that it was meant to be this thing harassing him needed to get out! Jesus responds to Paul's "needs".

Paul was in need, and his wants were getting in the way. This last Sunday we talked about the truth that we are powerless over the most important thing: our hearts. Many people balk at the idea that they cannot change themselves because they want to have that ability, because they think they know what's best. However, we need God to be in charge. Why? Because He knows what we really need, and that is Him. And because He has the power to fulfill the very desires that lie so deep in us we didn't even know they existed. We come to him w/ our "needs" and He frustrates us. As we draw near new yearnings arise, and as hard we try we are never able to fulfill them. That is when He reveals to us how our needs have all along simply been wants, and that the need He is able to fulfill satisfies all our deepest wants.