Day 23 - God calms fear as we live in his presence
Scripture focus: Jerusalem will be told: "Don't be afraid. Dear Zion, don't despair. Your God is present among you, a strong Warrior there to save you. Happy to have you back, he'll calm you with his love and delight you with his songs." Zephaniah 3:17 (The Message)
It had been one of those weekends when I judged myself harshly - not liking the way I communicated God's message of hope. I was feeling like I let God down, running back to my spiritually anorexic place - when I received the encouraging email you've been reading in the previous devotionals. His courage in the face of fear fueled my fire, because his story reminded me of all that I know about God, but sometimes forget. I'm glad I wrote that note of thanks back - because the sequel was awesome.
"Well God does work in some unusual ways...I can only think how it's funny that God has each of us in a capacity (or to a degree) that we hadn't expected - which I suppose trumps any reflexive self-appraisal."
Self-appraisal has some merit, but only if it is surrounded by a firm foundation of God-appraisal. Performance is not the pathway to peace but that principle is not an excuse for failing to prepare, and working diligently to improve our serve. So it is with trust and faith that we allow ourselves to acknowledge our shortcomings, and extend ourselves grace. It's okay to feel like we've failed, so long as we remember to run back into the arms of our heavenly Father for comfort (as opposed to sticking our head in a jar of peanut butter).
Here's how I try to apply Zephaniah.
I say to myself - "I am afraid, that's how I feel...but I can make a decision to not let fear determine my path. I do feel despairing sometimes, but that doesn't mean I'm going to choose to despair - there's a difference. God is present among us, he's the strong warrior there to save. I don't have to be strong. I just have to show up. Once I show up, I'm back, and he'll calm me with his love and delight me with his songs."
More singing tomorrow....
Recommended reading: Acts 22-24
- click on the word comments and join our conversation
Copyright 2009 NorthStar Community
No comments:
Post a Comment