“The Lord gives strength to his people,
the Lord blesses his people with peace."
Psalm 29:11
It’s been 5 years since COVID (who wants to remember that?).
I found this note I wrote in the first few days of the pandemic. In these confusing days, the counsel still fits.
3.16.20
Dear Friends –
Life presents us so many occasions to lose peace.
Can you feel the peace slipping away from our society in this epic moment?
I can.
The press of the unknown has always been cause for fear.
It's as old as humanity.
The 30 hours since have given us no reason for peace.
More reports, more news conferences, tighter and tighter restrictions. More cases discovered, more deaths. More, more, more.
But that's what times do. They serve fear and anxiety up on a platter.
I need you to hear something; you do not have to take anything from that platter. Let it go by you. Watch it. See how real it is. And take nothing from it.
And if you sense cracks in you that you are afraid the times, the fear, and the unknown will use to sneak in you and take over your heart, see those cracks for what they are: a place for God to plant the seed of spiritual breakthrough.
Spiritual breakthrough is always required to get to peace.
In the face of trouble, strength and peace are what is needed. An inner fortitude and an inner calm will get you through any difficulty.
Us: “Where do you get that?”
The Psalmist: “From the Lord.”
Phrases like “from the Lord” get used so frequently by Christians, it’s worth suspending our understanding in order to examine our intent.
Christians often say things like this, but rather than an insight into genuine hope, they function as platitudes—nice-sounding phrases you’re supposed to say. We either don’t really mean them or don’t really know what they mean. A platitude is an accurate saying whose vital truth has been hollowed out by flippant use. We blurt them out in the face of someone’s difficulty and help no one.
Jesus never gives a platitude. His words always ring with both the sting and hope of truth. They are real talk about real life, as is all Scripture. If you think Scripture is anything other than real talk about what’s actually happening, you have settled for a book of trite, meaningless, spiritual sounding phrases.
So when the Psalmist talks about where an essential outlook and attitude can be found by real humans with real fears, it’s worth pausing to take in.
The Psalmist isn’t:
…inviting side-stepping religious talk about how you need to psychologically bend yourself toward a spiritual mindset of strength.
…advocating pie-in-the-sky advice about thinking positive religious thoughts until you feel better, your fight or flight system regulates, and peace can come in.
This is about the personal connection to God available through which strength and peace come.
When our kids were little and were scared at night, my wife or I (or sometimes both of us), would go into their room, put our hand on their chest, and tell them all would be okay.
In that moment, our kids weren’t responsible for working up a mindset to feel better. It wasn’t on them to think the right thoughts so they could work their way past fear. And we didn’t judge their fear and tell them to “grow up already.” No, they had a personal connection to their parents. Our presence was their conduit for strength and peace. It came to them through us.
This is the lasting invitation of the Scriptures. There really is someone through whom all you need comes. A personal God does indeed come close to his children. There is a God above us who’s arms are below us.
Welcome God into whatever room you are in.
Pastor Scott Marshall, Wichita First Church of the Nazarene