It sounded like a commentator on the radio - well actually it was a commentator on the radio - but I think God just might have been telling me something through what he had to say.
The speaker was talking about how the Bible says we should "fret not" ... but yet it seems these days that Christians are doing some "fretting" .
He gave words to the very thoughts I had been having about my own mental state of late.
This may not bode well with many of my (four) readers, but I have been very concerned about the sharp turn our nation has taken - over the past month with the installation of a new president; but really over the past three or four years.
President Obama's swift moves away from our first principles has seemed - well - apocalyptic to me. This is compounded by the fact that it seems that everyone is just going along.
So I have been fretting.
I purposefully have avoided addressing these issues on this blog because I think maybe I went too far with my political discussions back in the Fall. There was some anger there and I don't really like me angry.
But the bottom line is that I have been fretting and that is contrary to God's Word.
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. . . Philippians 4:6a NLT
God's economy works whether our country's does or not. It works under the rule of a representative republic and under tyranny. It chugs along unaltered by the rise or fall of the stock market ... or gas prices ... or interest rates ... or political powers ...
I was thinking about this post and I kept thinking about Psalm 37 - that's one of my favorite Psalms - I knew it addressed the "fret" issue.
But as I went back to it, I realized it not only offered a "don't" but it also offered several "do's"!
I invite you to read it for yourself - I think it will encourage you; it has often encouraged me.
The first verse Psalm 37 says not to fret because of evil doers. That's the "don't" .
But if you scroll down the page, you will find a bunch of productive things you can do with all that time you are not fretting:
- Trust in the Lord
- Do good
- Delight yourself in the Lord
- Commit your way to the Lord
- Trust also in Him (I guess it bears repeating)
- Rest in the Lord
- Wait patiently for Him
- Cease from anger; forsake wrath
Almost every one of these "do's" is accompanied by some promise or hope ... "feed on His faithfulness", "He will give you the desires of your heart", "righteousness", "justice" and so it goes.
Wow! I am really impressed with that! I can focus on the problem, concentrate on it, simmer and sulk and I will get no where.
Or I can follow God's way - "fret not" - and I can focus instead on Him... trusting Him, committing my way to Him, resting in Him, waiting patiently for Him...
Well, I feel better. ... yeah I think that was God speaking.
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