Handling Trouble

Let go and let God

How do you go when you think something is happening that is wrong?

I am discovering more and more that there is part of me that wants to find a way to fix things. When something is going wrong I end up feeling like its my problem and I need to find a way to sort it out.

I realise that there are some things I simply can’t fix, but that doesn’t stop me trying. For quite a while I have thought that was one of my good attributes but I am starting to see that it’s not always helpful.

When I view problems as mine to fix, I take God out of the picture.

We had a violent wind storm this week. Poatina was rocked by 100 km/h winds that smashed windows, tore part of the roof off our motel and brought down hundreds of trees.

For me it was a metaphor of life. Often it can feel like I am in a storm and the part of me that thinks its my job to fix it is like thinking its my job to stop the wind-storm. My focus is in the wrong place.

This morning I read Psalm 46 and felt like God was wanting to see the part of me that wants to ’tilt at windmills’.

The Psalm starts:

¹ God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.

² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

³ though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging

The sons of Korah start by saying  something “No matter how terrifying or violent things are on the outside, if God is in his rightful place then everything is ok”.

They go on to elaborate and draw towards the conclusion of the Psalm with the image in verse 9:

He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear,
he burns the shields with fire.

The symbols of war are the symbols of power. The nation with the biggest and best fighting capacity is automatically the most powerful. Sometimes I can feel like my job is to fight, but the Psalm turns it all on its head with the next verses.

¹⁰ “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”

¹¹ The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress

The Psalm calls me to un-clench my fist and be still in the face of trouble, to come back to a different perspective of how power works.

A friend quoted the little book “God calling” in a sermon today:

The world sees strength in action. In My Kingdom it is known that strength lies in quiet.  “In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.”

My faith calls me to make a different response to trouble that is instinctive.

My faith calls me to a place of quiet and trust rather than action and strength.

Its much, much harder to trust God than to trust my capacity to fight trouble, however I have a sneaking suspicion that trusting God might actually be a better plan.