And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. (Mark 4:39, ESV)
You can learn quickly about someone from a round of golf. How do they respond when things go well and how do they respond when things don’t?
When we are weary, God is strong. He knows just what we need.I can vividly remember being very upset after a tournament where my college team failed to qualify for NCAA Nationals, missing by a single shot. My teammates were responding much differently than me, and I was angry that it appeared to not bother them as much! When I talked to my sister on the phone, she quickly reminded me that people would pay far more attention to how I responded in that situation than if things had worked out how I planned. While my anger might have been justified, it would not have excused me acting rudely to them. My sister’s words calmed me down toward patience and quiet, when I was tempted to react rashly and irritated.
One of my favorite analogies ask this: When you shake a bottle, what comes out of it? Whatever is inside the bottle. When life is challenging, our response is a reflection of what is going on inside us. “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of the evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). What needs examination is in our heart, for from it flow the springs of life (Proverbs 4:23). As much as I am tempted to blame my circumstances, my circumstances don’t create what’s inside me—but they reveal what is.
So how do we respond when life’s events happen in ways we didn’t plan?
It’s human nature to meet surprises with one of the following seven common emotions: anger, fear, disgust, contempt, joy, sadness and surprise. God made us with emotions. These are a gauge for how we are feeling, but they do not have to dictate how we behave or act. We must fill our hearts and minds with the truth that is God’s word. We will be tempted to doubt God cares or if he is even there, but that’s not true. What is true is that the word of the Lord is perfect to revive the soul (Psalm 19:7).
Some great allies in remembering God’s word are our brothers and sisters in Christ. They can help remind us of what is true and to see things from another perspective the way my sister reminded me to get a grip and stay calm when I was tempted to respond foolishly at the end of a golf tournament. “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety” (Proverbs 11:14).
When we are weary, he is strong. He knows just what we need. My encouragement to you is to run to the Lord who is “a strong tower, the righteous man runs into it and is safe” (Proverbs 18:10). Just like the disciples cried out to Jesus as they were in the boat when it was storming, he is there when we cry out too, able to calm the storm in a spoken word, “Peace! Be still!”
We sang this in church last week: “Sometimes he calms the storm with a whispered ‘peace, be still’/He can settle any sea, but it doesn’t mean he will/Sometimes he holds us close, lets the wind and waves go wild/Sometimes he calms the storm, and other times he calms his child.”
—
Aimee Neff
November 17, 2016
Copyright 2016 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.