Are you busy? Things just seem to be going a thousand miles per hour lately around here. Everyone seems to be running a bit ragged (I definitely include myself in that description). What has happened? What has gotten life so busy and so exhausting? I could speculate for more room than this column allows, but I’m not going to come up with a better answer than anyone else has already come up with.
So instead of looking for an explanation let’s look for a solution. I’m not going to suggest you unplug everything and become a hermit. There is obviously merit to the idea that we should unplug some things, but going totally off the grid is not a good option (if it’s an option at all). We are made and meant to be in relationship with people. We are also designed to do things, to work and accomplish. So we need to stay connected to this world if we are going to be the people that God designed us to be.
There are people that we come in contact with in life who are as active as we can possibly imagine yet, they for some reason, never seem to be hurried. Their schedules are packed and they have a list of things to do if somehow a free moment presents itself, and still they aren’t harried or flustered, they simply go one with the tasks at hand and even seem to do it with a smile. What is their deal?
Happy ignorance is certainly a possible explanation, but I would like to offer another option. The Apostle Paul wrote some beautiful words in the fourth chapter of his letter to the Philippians. He said, “4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
He said to not be anxious about anything, and suggested that we should pray to the Lord for help and guidance. And his promise was that God would faithfully bless us with peace. More peace than could ever make sense, that’s why he calls it peace that surpasses understanding.
I think our busy but un-hurried friends have peace that surpasses understanding.
David wrote in Psalm 46:10 that God says “Be still, and know that I am God.”
Exodus 14:14 tells us that “The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
When we go from hope and belief to knowing that the Lord is God we gain the ability and the right to be still in the midst of chaotic circumstances. We can have a million things to do, and yet we can be at peace in the process of doing what we can without feeling like we are at the end of our rope.
When we accept and learn to understand that the Lord is truly God Almighty we can be still, because things are okay, because He is able to take care, but mostly because he calls us to do it. God says to be still. He assures us that He is in control, and He promises us peace as we trust Him.
We are going to find ourselves with busy things to take care of for most of our days. But we will never find ourselves so busy that God is hurried. We will never be so tied up and under so much pressure that God is nervous. When we trust, honor and obey our Lord we will find time to be still (in our souls) and we can carry on with the blessed peace that surpasses understanding.
Jeremy Alger is the pastor of the New Cumberland Church of the Nazarene. They meet in person and online every Sunday. You can also watch their services on Ruko, search for New Cumberland to find our channel. For more information please visit www.newcumberlandnazarene.com