Alongside every cheery email you open from your inbox, each greeting pulled from the metal box painted with your house number on it, there is lately, a shadow of darkness, the backdrop of grief.
We have become a society of pupils, discovering new definitions for words – racism, genocide and sacrifice – whether we want to be in the classroom or not. While we scramble eggs and complain about burned toast, children’s lives are being snuffed out. And their parents stand with mouths agape, hearts shattered into a million tiny pieces.
On the other side of our tilted planet, we realize how desperate we are for a Savior to help us remain upright.
Our prayers are the harness of tight fisted tenacity pulling us back to truth.
We are not powerless but warriors with weapons of wisdom the first time we uttered “Yes” to Jesus. Push back the darkness with what God has freely given and watch Light blind perpetrators of chaos.
“Wisdom is not primarily knowing the truth, although it certainly includes that; it is skill in living. For, what good is a truth if we don’t know how to live it? What good is an intention if we can’t sustain it?” says Eugene Peterson.
This is the work of Sabbath.
When our world turns topsy-turvy, quiet stillness returns order from our frantic pace. In rest and prayerful listening, we find our true identity; hear hopefulness hum through the swarm of our surroundings.
As we walk toward Sabbath this weekend, mindful of the world’s desperation, may we be those who nod to His open invitation. Of prayerful intercession, the slow walk into wisdom and truth.
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Yes. What good is wisdom if we don’t apply it to our lives? Apart from God, there is no wisdom. Without prayer, we are in essence separated from God. It always begins and ends with Him. Looking forward to some concentrated time in His presence this weekend. Grateful for the gift of sabbath, and the invitation to seek Him without concern for the daily duties that vie for my attention.
Shelly…this was exactly what I needed to hear today and confirmed what God is saying to me…thank you so much. xx
We need this reminder, because it’s filled with hope when despair engulfs us, and it’s filled with the reality of God’s presence and light, when darkness consumes us, whether in genocide or homocide. I know you must remember Ferguson, Shelly. . . just a stone’s throw from Jennings, where you once lived, and where my grandmother and grandfather and great-aunt and great-uncle did. And my other aunt, uncle, and cousins lived in Ferguson. I spent time there as a child. And Ferguson is really just another name for St. Louis County. We’re all so close and all these little cities are really St. Louis metropolitan. I watch our city and all this horror being paraded on the nightly news for all the nation and the world to see in morbid sound-bites at best, and it’s morphing into that which is unrecognizable by people who live here and assumed to be an accurate picture by people who don’t and who can’t possibly understand what they don’t know, and it breaks my heart to know of all the broken hearts . . . for an unarmed teen gunned down likely in cold blood, for his friend who witnessed his demise, for his bereaved parents and relatives, for combat tanks and tear gas, for lawlessness and looting and rioting, for a policeman whose story has not yet been heard, and whose house-and-family location has been exposed (all under the threat of death), for justice that has not yet been served one way or the other (whatever we discover that to be, because it must run its course for the truth to be known in a court of law before any of us jumps to conclusions–the public does not yet know the truth, so how can they judge?), for distortion and half-truths, for media sensationilizing what needs purging and healing (but sensationalizing sells better). St. Louis is falling down around my ears, and it’s frigthening, and God is the only One who can help. And that *is* the truth.
Thanks for your prayers, Shelly.
Love
Lynn
Lynn, you’ve been on my mind as all the news comes through our feeds. And thank you for letting me know where it is exactly. I know that area well, now that you’ve pointed it out. Our world is in so much chaos at every turn, a good reminder of what we take for granted when our lives are full of peace and harmony. It feels like there is a war going on in the heavenlies, one we can’t see but sense in our spirit.
Thank you for your encouragement and prayers, Shelly. Yes, you would know the area. And yes, spiritual warfare at every turn. We all need the Lord. All. Thank you so much for your prayers.
And you are in mine….
Love
Lynn
Shelly, I so appreciate YOUR wisdom, For example, this statement: “In rest and prayerful listening, we find our true identity.” Rest provides time for Spirit-led reflection; prayerful listening leads to discovering direction–and much more. Thank you for reinspiring me to protect my time for rest and prayerful listening.
Yes, Shelly! This is what we need most…quiet in the midst of the storm that is raging ’round us daily. There is so much going on in the world, grievous things. There is definitely a war going on in the heavenlies. And I ask, “How long, O Lord?”