Yesterday, I spent my afternoon in a shopping mall. Yes, I am a 19-year-old girl and I love clothes and shoes and ice cream, but honestly, I left there with a completely weary and empty heart. The lies of Satan followed me wherever I walked; in every store, signs told me I needed this to be beautiful, to be alluring, to be confident, successful, wealthy, satisfied. At one point, I picked up half of my lunch in the food court and dumped it in the garbage can, nauseous and anxious to just get out. Why? Because all the things that the hundreds of people walking by me all day thought mattered, don't matter. At all. Because my heart broke for people so empty that they try to make emptiness fill them up. Before I slept last night, I prayed that God would refocus my eyes..take them away from the lies and put them on the truth.
All of that brings me to today. Today, I spent my entire day with my family at one of my favorite spots in the world: a beautifully rocky New England beach. The soft ocean breeze caressed my skin. I could taste the salty air on my tongue. I watched the tide come in, the tall sailboats go out until I could hardly see them in the distance. And I thought to myself "Someone made all of this. These trees, this summer air, this vast ocean. And that someone made me too, and holds me as I walk along the shore." A breath-taking thought.
As I felt the spray of the white foam along the rocks, I looked up to the heavens and realized this truth is more than words written on a wall text, "Be still and know that I am God." In the NASB, Psalm 46:10 reads, "Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." It is about stillness. Peace in the reality of who our God is. Comfort in the fact that He will make Himself known.
In the materialistic world we live in, there is constant hustle and bustle. Greed drives us to make money, love of money fills our schedules with work and activity, and our busy lives run around in circles until we wonder how we got where we are. We have learned to accept stress and worry and daily jam-packed schedules as a natural part of life. How often do we forget the truth of this whole psalm! Notice verses 1-3: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its swelling pride." God is present with us! Our God is God! I saw the ocean on a mild summer day this morning and yet its furious strength still astounded me. When I see the waters "roar and foam" in a storm, the first thing I think of is shrinking back and going inside to be safe. These verses are telling me that my hiding place is God himself. He is my help and my refuge, so there is no need to shrink back. I need only to call on Him in stillness...to "cease striving," or trying to fight my battles or accomplish everything in my life on my own...and allow Him to work in the way He has promised to.
I think the greed in my heart is just fear-- fear that God will not provide for my needs. The lust? Fear that God cannot meet my desires abundantly. The envy? Fear that God cannot see my life in the way He sees others. So, here's what I have come away with today and I hope it will touch your heart as it has touched mine:
God is present, He is powerful, and He will perform. But, we only live in the good of this fact if we are still..if we cease our striving and remember that He will be exalted. Satan's lies will not be believed forever. God's truth will win.
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