Post from June 28, 2023

“👟 RSD 1156 ✅ “In God I trust and am not afraid. What can man do to me?” — Psalm 56:11

Do you ever say something (to yourself) over and over, almost to convince yourself of it? And, it actually makes you feel a lot better. Like, “I’ve got this” in the middle of your run or your workout, or, “Don’t cry” when things are overwhelming and you know you still have to boss it up (handle it). Some people do this kind of thing in the mirror in the morning: there are different sayings, mantras, affirmations that are supposed to help you begin your day setting yourself up for success; it’s a mindset thing. In my own classroom, we have “whale bee okay, with the whale emoji, and the bee emoji, and the okay emoji”—we literally say all of that. It’s easy to remember and just simple enough to work.

Do you ever use this sort of thing when you pray? No, I don’t mean 🐳🐝👌🏻 or a quote you found in a book or some other saying you saw shared on FB or got from a poster at TJ Maxx (hey, no judgement here—I have 🐳🐝👌🏻 painted on a sign…this stuff really takes care of the psyche, but I’m talking about taking care of more than that—the salve on your soul that really seems to help). I’m talking about prayers acknowledging God’s greatness, His love, and His promises to take care of us; I’m talking about prayers saying, “Hey, God, I could really use Your help. I know You can do anything, and I know You won’t leave me. Please help me.” Think about it: God already knows all of this…so why do we tell Him what He already knows? I mean, He’s God: nothing is news to Him. That thing I said about saying things over and over to “convince” yourself? It’s not “convincing” as in making untrue things true; it’s “convincing” as in just getting your brain used to what your heart already knows. When you’re working out, you know you’ve got it. You might doubt for second, but you know. When you’re getting ready to handle a tough situation, you know you’ll handle it (even if some tears fall anyway). My students know they’ll be fine, but it’s still nice to say it and to hear it. You know, refreshing your brain with what your heart already knows is true. God knows we need reminders—that’s why they’re all over the Bible. Like our verse today: remember David from the other day, the new king? Well, he wasn’t king yet when he wrote this psalm—he was the future king and, well, some people were unhappy about that. Plus, there was this whole Israel (David’s people) vs the Philistines thing, so those people were also not fans of David. So, in this prayer to God (in all of Psalm 56), David is calling to God for help while reminding himself that there’s no reason to be afraid when God is there for you and that you can trust God.

So, when we pray, we are coming to God with what we need (which is was He wants us to do); it’s practicing gratitude and respect and faith, and doing these things only strengthens our faith and helps us to get to know God’s voice (no, I don’t mean the big booming kind—I mean the “knowing what’s right” and “peace that passes understanding” kind (“and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” — Philippians 4:7)). Knowing God’s voice helps us to not get lost in hearing the voices of others (and some of those people are LOUD with their voices that promote feelings of fear and doubt and unworthiness). I think an added bonus of the acknowledgments we make in prayer about God’s almighty power and His unimaginable love for us and willingness to help us is that, in saying things to God we know are true and asking for the help we have faith we’ll receive, we are getting our brains used to what our hearts already know. Yeah, we don’t know it all, not even a little bit compared to God, but God knows it all, including the hows and whys, and in our hearts we can rest assured of the simple fact that Almighty God is there for us and loves us. Our brains like to doubt. I have no idea why, but we allllll seem to be into it. So, times of great distress (or even normal distress…sometimes life is hard—people you thought were friends want to kill you because you get to be king, and the Philistines are pounding on your door…yeah, jealousy and “friends” not wanting to see you win was a thing in David’s day too)—in these times we might feel really alone, and we become so anxious that our brains forget what’s actually true. Anxiety lies, but these anxious thoughts somehow make sense. They might even make more sense in the present than true things do, so you buy into it. The aspect of believability is essential in a good, lingering lie. And, Anxiety lies.

Anxiety is different than fear. Fear you can name. Anxiety makes Fear seem more real and lingers like a smell you can’t get rid of. You know how if you eat something with garlic or cook with garlic everything smells like garlic for the rest of the day? That’s Anxiety. Fear’s more like you drove by the sulfur plant and kept driving. Yeah, there’s a smell, but it’s not there when you drive away, and you know you’re not driving out there every day. But, when garlic comes, everything smells like garlic. Anxiety is Fear’s cousin from a different school who nobody really knows, yet gets into everyone’s drama and has a mean streak. It seems like he wouldn’t be as bad (he hasn’t pulled some of the stuff that Fear has—I mean, garlic doesn’t smell like sulfur, right?), but he’s somehow worse (he seems to get away with more things that you don’t find out about until later—when he goes home or the kitchen airs out (pick your metaphor)). Anxiety lies and lies really well. So, when we pray, when we talk to God, He wants us to be honest about what we want and what we need, and He wants us to acknowledge things that are true: God’s almighty power, God’s goodness and grace, God’s promises, God’s love, God’s unfailing nature. See, God knows Anxiety creeps in easily and tells you things that aren’t true. Lies can damage if we let them, but they don’t last. The New Living Translation has the last part of today’s verse as, “What can mere mortals do to me?” Mortals. Google/Oxford has “subject to death” as part of the definition. Here’s what we should keep in mind: Anxiety is mortal, and his lies are too. But, God and His promises and His truth are divine: they are unchanging and live forever.

The other day we talked about the fact that some people just plain come in clutch. It can be a coworker, an acquaintance, a stranger, but, when it’s a friend/loved one—it’s expected but greatly valued at the same time. You know, you might not always think of it, but when you take a second to step back and think, you say to yourself, “Man, I don’t know what I’d do without ______.” That person always comes in clutch. David knew this about God, and, no matter how alone and scared and frustrated and powerless he felt, he knew that God would come in clutch for him. God promises this. The Amplified Bible translates David’s words as, “In God have I put my trust and confident reliance.” Confident, from the Latin confidere, meaning “having full trust,” and trust, meaning, “firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something” (Google/Oxford). Full, firm belief in the reliability, ability, strength, and truth. Sounds familiar, right? So, next time you’re anxious, overwhelmed, frustrated, feeling alone: speak truth to yourself, and speak it to God in prayer. It really doesn’t have to be fancy; God invented language, so He totally gets it. God’s got you. From our discussion on Day 1150 last week, God told Joshua, “I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you” —Joshua 1:5. Remember: God won’t forget you. So, even though life’s anxieties will try to lie to you: God is there for you to count on and to give you every reason not to be afraid. Let your brain think about things that your heart already knows. “The Lord is my shepherd; I lack nothing” — Psalm 23:1: easy to remember.

Today’s random picture is one I took this evening at sundown, just after my run.”