Sometimes God’s call is a Call to Action, other times it’s an Order to Be Still.  

Taking action is easy for me.  I’m a doer.  I don’t always come up with the ideas, but I can put them into practice.  Waiting….well, let’s just say, that is not my strong point.  I don’t particularly like to wait.  In fact, I can get quite lost while waiting.  I may even forget what I was waiting for.  

Every morning it’s the same thing, I like to wake up and hit the ground running.  This means that I can quickly burn through my stores of energy.  Any delay can cause my stamina to evaporate like steam.  

This trait is clearly obvious when I run.  It’s off to the races full speed ahead and then, POOF, I’m done.  It takes quite a bit of time training to keep me from burning through all of my energy in the first few minutes of my run.  It’s the way I’m wired.  So, it should not come as a shock that for the last few years God has kept me in a holding pattern.  The doer has had to stand back, be still, and watch.  

This busy little bee has had to govern her pace.  I have had to deliberately slow down so that I can smell the roses, stop so that I can listen to God’s voice, absorb His Word, and saturate in His presence.  I have had to choose a patient approach to each day and have gotten much better about living in the moment, taking each step one day at a time….BUT sometimes I still find myself going full speed ahead once again.  That is why I am so thankful for the tender drawing, nudging, and illumination that comes from the Holy Spirit.  

Last week while struggling with the hurry up and get this virus over blues, He gently reminded me to be still.  Not to look for things to do to occupy my thoughts and mind, but to deliberately stand back, rest, wait, and watch.  

Through His promptings, my devotions brought me to (Exodus 14:14 NIV) “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”  In the NLT the last part of that verse reads, “Just stay calm”.  In verse 13 Moses tells the people to “Stand Still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today.” (NKJV).  In these verses, the Israelites were afraid, they weren’t in a position to defend themselves against the armies of Egypt who were pursuing them.  But that is exactly where God wanted them to be.  He didn’t want them to respond to the threat behind them.  Instead, He wanted them to stand back, trust, and watch as He fought for them.  

In Judges 7:2 (NLT) The Lord says to Gideon, “You have too many warriors with you.  If I let all of you fight the Midianites, the Israelites will boast to me saying that they saved themselves by their own strength.”  You see, God wants the glory for the victories in our lives.  He deserves the glory, it is rightly His anyway.  When we rush ahead trying to do everything on our own, we can quickly forget who is fighting our battles and begin to rely on our own strength and wisdom instead of God’s.  

When Gideon had only 300 soldiers of the original 32,000 (that’s less than 1%), that is when God said, “Get up!  Go down into the Midianite camp, for I have given you victory over them!”  That’s not the end of the story though, it gets even better.  In verse 22 it states, When the 300 Israelites blew their ram’s horns, the Lord caused the (Midianite) warriors in the camp to fight against each other with their swords.  

You see, all Gideon’s army had to do was be obedient and stand back while the Lord fought their battle.  Is there a place in your life where you need to relinquish control?  A battle that you need to allow God to fight for you?  If so, I invite you to turn it over to Him.   To stand still and let Him fight for you.  

He said, “Listen, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem!  Listen, King Jehoshaphat!  This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid!  Don’t be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.”  (2 Chronicles 20:15  NLT)

Have you ever met an angry toddler?  I mean a very angry toddler at the point of combustion?  They are quite a force to be reckoned with and most of them have at one time or another, employed the tactic of tantrum throwing.  

My oldest’s battle strategy was ‘If I just embarrass my mother enough, she’ll relent’.  So, he tried very public, massive tantrums which I would walk away from.  BUT my oldest had an iron clad will, so he would follow me from aisle to aisle or room to room throwing himself down in front of me and making the biggest scene possible.  He demanded that I acknowledge how unhappy he was.  If I didn’t give him his way, his course of action was to make everyone just as miserable as he was.  He tried to pay me back in kind.

My youngest was like minded, but her tantrums were even more annoying.  She would let out a never ending screech which would not stop until she got her way.  “Little Bit” was determined to never bend, compromise, or negotiate.  At one point, I thought we would never make it out of her toddler years alive.

  What was at the heart of their tantrum throwing?  What could cause such violent behavior from ones so small?  Well, toddlers are the centers of their universe.  We have met their basic needs since they were born.  They cried, we fed them, burped or diapered them.  They fussed and we entertained or put them to bed.  They eventually came to the conclusion that if they asked for it, then they would get it.  

What both of my littles didn’t understand was that I had knowledge they didn’t.  Sometimes they wanted something I knew they shouldn’t have or at least have at that time.  My ‘no’ wasn’t meant to hurt or belittle their plans, it was made out of my love for them and a desire to only give them what was best.  “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead?  Of course not!  So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.” (Matthew 7:9-11 NLT)

Have you ever found yourself, like a toddler trying to punish God for allowing something to happen to your plans?  Have you thrown a massive adult style tantrum because He said ‘no’ or altered the course of your life?  Have you decided to ignore His way altogether because you are sure that your way of seeing things is the right and only way?

I have.  When we try to understand our circumstances and our relation to them, when we try to maintain a semblance of control over our lives, we take our eyes off of God’s purposes and like a toddler, trust in our own lordship.  

When we try to punish God for not getting our own way, when we demand that He relent to our plans, we only punish ourselves.  A loving Father will do everything in His power to keep us from what He knows would harm us.  From our limited knowledge it’s hard for us to understand His ways, but this is where we must choose who we trust and who is Lord of our lives.  Will we choose to trust God or will we trust in ourselves?  “But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.  But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24: 15 NIV)

During these difficult times, we must trust God’s shelter.  We must reside in the high tower of His will and the protection it brings even when we don’t understand.  This requires a constant, continual letting go; a moment by moment, day by day surrendering to the One Who Knows All.  

Today, I invite you to join me as I once again unfurl my fisted hands and raise them in total abandoned surrender.  Laying aside all that tethers me to fear, I ask you to raise your voice with mine in praise to the one Who Knows All.  I beseech you to sing along with me as praise renders the unknown defeated.