Be still, and know that I am God.

Psalm 46:10, KJV

The LORD is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters.

Psalm 23:1-2, KJV

 

"Hush, be still." We've all seen it. Even if we don't remember, most of us have experienced it. It is the soothing voice of our mothers when we are babes and are so distraught that only a mama's voice can soothe us. Women of yesteryear used to find solace in their knitting, just sitting and working quietly with their hands. The hunter and fisherman alike know the benefit of being still and letting the quarry come to them. 

 

There is a healing in being still, but it is a virtue that is almost extinct in our modern age. With all of the cell phones, computers, televisions, and other electronic wonders, men rarely have a quiet moment during their waking hours. No wonder the stress levels are so great. No wonder that people go through their days just pining for some sort of beverage at the end of the day to give them an artificial calming for a few moments. No wonder that the doctor's offices are full of patients whose health has taken a hit from the constant noise and chaos and tension of the world around them.

 

But what can we do?

 

On the seventh day, God rested from His work. A better translation might be that He "ceased" from His labors on the seventh day. It was so important in Old Testament times that He set apart the Sabbath for men to rest. Since most men don't want to, He even made it one of the Ten Commandments for His chosen people during the Mosaic age. In our times, the Christian era, He has given us the first day of the week. It is a day set aside for worship and for remembrance. Though it is not commanded, it is also an excellent day of rest for those wise enough to take advantage of the opportunity.

 

In addition to these special days, we have the daily opportunity to just be still - and we need to take it! We desperately need those times beside the still waters that can refresh our very souls. We need to simply be still before God and let Him comfort and soothe whatever ails us. The world we live in is too stressful to not take advantage of these blessings - these soul-healing moments, and we need to take them. Otherwise... we will fall apart. All too many people are.

 

If you feel like your life is coming apart at the seams, why not take advantage of this great gift right now. It's really not all that difficult you know. All you have to do is be still.   

Why, when I came, was there no man; why, when I called, was there no one to answer? 

Isaiah 50:2, ESV

And I heard the voice of the LORD saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me."

Isaiah 6:8, ESV

 

These two passages pretty well sum up the difference between courage and cowardice, and therefore failure and success. Both are from the book of Isaiah, and both involve men being given a choice between doing the right thing, or simply doing nothing. 

 

The setting is a familiar one that has been oft repeated throughout recorded Old Testament times. God's chosen people had wandered off into sin. The sin didn't seem all that bad at first, but it metastasized into something so vile and so evil that it threatened to bring down a nation. God wanted the nation warned. He wanted the people to know the consequences for their sins and what these sins would do to not only them but to their children and grandchildren. So He called for someone to go and warn the people, but their response was not always what it should have been. 

 

Most people are afraid of speaking up even when it is for the right thing. Most people lack the courage to take a stand and let others know that they are doing wrong and therefore must change. Most people lack the fortitude, as well as the needed trust in God to do the right thing. So, when the time calls for them to speak, they simply say nothing. Why should they stick their neck out anyway? Let someone else take that risk! Let someone else expend that effort. 

 

Which brings us to the contrast we see in the passages above. Israel had sinned. They were so vile, in fact, that some of them would eventually resort to cannibalism against their own children. It seemed like an unlikely outcome to those who were being warned, but it really wasn't all that different from the sacrifice by fire that they were already doing with these little ones. So God called for a person of courage to warn them of what would happen to them if they did not cease from this wickedness. God did not want the innocent to suffer. He preferred that the people repent, but in Isaiah chapter 50 we find that He couldn't even find one person to take a bold stand and tell people that they must stop.

 

Not one!

 

On the other hand, in Isaiah 6, we read of one who did have the courage. When the call was made, this man responded. That's why this book has the title of "Isaiah", and not Tom, John or Rick. It was Isaiah who said, "Here am I! Send me." It was Isaiah who was given the same choice as the rest of Israel, but it was only he who had the courage to take the right stand. Courage is a choice, and only Isaiah made the right one.

 

How about us, today? Do we have the courage to stand on the right side of this choice? Do we love God enough to swallow our fears and trust Him when there are needed things to say; when there are needed warnings to give? Do we love our children enough to take the righteous stands so badly needed today that will help to avert disaster tomorrow? Or, when God calls, will we fail to respond? And if we don't, who will?

 

There are things that are going on in our world today that require a stand. We need to tell people that they cannot endanger the innocent anymore. We need to tell perverts that they cannot be perverted around our children. We need people who can just pick up a phone and tell their congressmen in a nice way that there are certain standards that they expect them to uphold and maintain, but absent that, they will lose their vote. We need people to tell their church leaders of their concerns when they are taking the church in a direction that is opposite of God's stated instructions. We need people who will have the courage to pray in public, when public prayer is needed. We need people who will have the courage to take a righteous stand whenever the call is made for them to do so.

 

How about us, do we have that kind of courage? We need to make that determination right now, for when the occasion arises that will call for your courage you will need to have already made up your mind as to whether or not you will stand up for God. Courage is a choice, and we must make the right choice, right now. Your eternity depends on it! Your children and grandchildren are counting on it! God expects it! The only question that remains then is do you have the courage?

 

It's something to think about, isn't it?

Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man.

Through God we shall do valiantly.

Psalms 60:11-12, KJV

 

Vain is the help of man! At few times in history has the truth of this statement been brought into such sharp focus as it has in recent years. A few years ago, a disease came into this world that showed mankind how completely ill-equipped they were to handle such problems without the assistance of the Lord. We quickly learned that the help of men was not enough, and especially as we slowly discovered that the very men who were tasked with bringing a cure were the same ones who developed the virus and then tried to cover up their wicked deeds. And while there were some rational voices who tried to expose these wicked deeds, they were swiftly "debunked" by the same media that was once a safeguard against tyranny.

 

The "vain" nature of man's help has become even more magnified of late, as incompetent officials have opened our borders to all sorts of potential dangers. We have found that our own State Department has been in on a plan to fly in illegals to airports around the United States on our tax dollars. Let that sink in for a moment: Our own government - the one tasked with keeping us safe from all threats, domestic and foreign, has been a co-conspirator with criminals. And we are funding this madness! How are they doing, do you think, with their responsibility of keeping their citizens safe?

 

The straw that broke the camel's back came in the recent Presidential debates. We have a President who is clearly mentally incapacitated. News organizations around the world have been showing his demented behavior on a near daily basis for several years now, but our leaders and media are acting like this is something new. Since no one can be that incompetent, the only rational conclusion is that they have been in on this scam for quite some time. Who, one might rightfully ask, has been in charge of our nation for the past four years? A better question is who have we been relying on to give us help from trouble? In this case it would appear that we have been relying on the very ones who have been causing a large portion of the problems in the first place.

 

So, what's the point of all of this? Is it just to whine and complain and maybe even pass along a little malicious gossip at the same time? If that were the point, we would all be wasting valuable time that could be put to a much better use. The point is that it is time to be proclaiming our independence from fallible men and start putting our trust in the One whom we should have been placing our trust in the whole time.

 

This is going to require a change in behavior!

 

It will have to begin with repentance, for if we have indeed been trusting in men rather than God then we have been wrong, sinfully wrong, to do so. I'm not saying that we should never rely on our fellow man to help us during difficult times, but to go to the extreme of trusting them as our "saviors" is a fool's errand. Once we have regained a proper trust in the Lord, we then need to realize that many of those whom we have been trusting in have not had our best interests in mind. If that is the case, we will need some changes in the way we prepare for trouble.

 

It would be a very healthy thing for our nation to cease looking to government to solve every problem. This means that when they tell us to take a shot for our own good, that we should seek additional information on the subject. This means that maybe we should not trust their welfare programs to take care of us and start doing things like getting out of debt, putting by some savings, and maybe even having a well-stocked pantry in place. All of this needs to be done while praying to God for His protection, as well as for His divine guidance as we make these plans.

 

I know that the suggestion to stop placing our trust in official government sources and media outlets will sound crazy to some, but consider this: When someone has consistently lied to you, is it all that crazy to think that they may lie to us again? And even if some people genuinely do have our best interests at heart, the truth of the passage quoted above still rings true today: "Vain is the help of man. Through God, we shall do valiantly."

 

It is past time, I think, for us to start putting our trust and dependence upon the Lord, and to proclaim our independence from wicked men.

 

When was the last time you did something that God considers valiant? Maybe it is time to give it a try.

No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by his own fruit.

Luke 6:43-44, ESV

 

What do people see, when they look at you? Do they see someone who generally looks at the bright side of life, or do they see someone who always seems to find some impending disaster looming on the horizon?

 

Ronald Reagan told the story of a couple with twin boys. Though they were nearly identical in their physical traits, they were as different as night and day in their personalities. One was a died in the wool pessimist. It didn't matter how good he had it, he was always gloomy and looking for the worst to happen, The other was an eternal optimist. No matter what the circumstances, he always saw things as problem-free opportunities. 

 

The parents viewed both boys as having necessary strengths in these worldviews but were concerned that their inability to see both sides of a situation as problematic. So, they came up with a plan.

 

They decided one Christmas to give gifts to their sons that would allow them to see the other side of life. For their pessimist, they filled one room with toys and gifts that would be the envy of any young man. For the optimist, they filled a shed with horse droppings acquired from a nearby stable. They were convinced that this plan would work, that it would show each one of their children that there was both good and bad in life, and they needed to learn to deal with either possibility.

 

Christmas came and they directed their boys to their respective rooms and waited for the results. Sure enough, they heard immediate results: From one room came whoops of delight. From the other came uncontrollable sobbing. But when they went into the room filled with toys, they were shocked to discover that it was this son who had been doing all the crying. "What's the matter? Don't you like the toys?" The boy replied that he did, very much in fact. Then why, they wanted to know, was he crying? He said, "This toy is going to break. This has batteries that will run down" He then proceeded to go around the room to each toy and tell his parents what terrible thing that was surely going to happen for each of his beloved toys.

 

Stunned, they then proceeded outside to the shed where they discovered their other son digging through the manure and shouting with delight. "What has come over you?' they demanded. "What are you doing?" His response caught them by surprise: "I'm looking for the pony!"

 

And there you have it. Some people, no matter how good they might have things, are always looking for something to ruin the good they have. As a result, they never learn to appreciate the blessings God has given them and they lead miserable existences indeed. And others, though possessing many excellent traits that are to be appreciated and admired, sometimes will end up in drastic circumstances because they are unable to see the danger of getting too close to the filth that sometimes surrounds them.

 

So we all, whether optimists or pessimists, need to have a heathy dose of reality. We need to stop looking for the sky to fall in every situation and learn to appreciate and enjoy the blessings that God has given. On the other hand, while we can see that the life of the optimist is superior in just about every facet of life, we do need to have our eyes open to the fact that there are some situations - whether dangerous or sinful, that we simply need to avoid. Otherwise, we might find ourselves in a world filled with evil, simply because we never heeded the danger long enough to try to change the situation.   

 

God has given us a very good life, and we should enjoy each blessing that He has given us. Even in bad times, we need to have the optimists understanding that these are but incidents on the road to Heaven. However, we still need to be realistic enough to avoid the bad and to never be tolerant of sinful behavior. Treating someone who has sin in their life as if they are okay will eventually harm them, just as looking negatively at every situation will eventually defeat us before we even get started.

 

We do need to look at both sides of life, and then we can become the types of people that God has always intended for us to be!