5-5-2018

Good Morning All,

        Psalm 46:10; “Be still, and know that I am God”.

   When I was a kid, the big ticket for party favors was the “Chinese Finger Trap”.  (If you are too young, ask your parents or grandparents.)  You would put the index finger of each hand into the end of this tube and then try to pull them back out.  The secret was that you couldn’t just pull your finger out.  The harder you pull, the tighter the finger trap pulls on your finger.  In order to release yourself from the trap, it requires some counter intuitive thinking and you must apply pressure to keep the finger trap pushed together so it is as loose as possible.

    I remember one time when a classmate was playing with one in class.  The teacher started yelling at him to take it off.  The more the teacher yelled the more stressed the student got and just kept pulling.  Soon he had pulled so hard his fingers started to turn purple.   The teacher had to get a pair of scissors to cut the finger trap off.  It was kind of a learning lesson.  Sometimes, when we pull the hardest, is when we suffer the most.

     That is what our verse is about.  While this is the traditional translation, there is a better one.  “Let go of your concerns!  Then you will know that I am God.”  Another translation is “Stop your struggling!  Know that I am God!” These are better because they more accurately describe what the Psalmist is saying.  By simply being silent, it can imply that by listening to direction then we can proceed.  What we really need to do is to stop fighting and stop worrying.  We cannot fight the devil and his attacks on our own.  If we try, it is like struggling in quicksand; you only get into more trouble.

    When the devil begins to tell us his lies and we try to fight on our own, we will lose.  We need to see that our refuge, the place where we go to be safe, is God and not our own skill.  So when the devil comes and tells us we are worthless or hopeless or of no value, we need to stop our own futile struggle and turn to God for our strength.  The devil will launch every possible, and some impossible, attack, painful thought, every fear, real or imagined (mostly imagined) anything to fire at you with as much intensity as possible.  When that attack comes, we are just like that student who kept pulling until his fingers were purple.  We can never handle the stress that the devil applies to us. 

    We need to recognize that we need to stop struggling and receive God’s grace and mercy and trust in him to give us the comfort and strength to battle the devil’s attacks.  We will only survive because of God’s grace fighting for us, because we are saved by blood of Jesus.  God has told us he will fight for us; we need to stop fighting, to be silent, and know that the God of love is battling for us.

Dearest Father, all of our efforts are of no value.  Our only hope is in your grace.  Give us the wisdom to trust in you and you alone.  Guide us by your Spirit and guard us as we face the challenges of this life.  Give those who are battling especially hard battles the peace they need to know that they are secure in you.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret