If you’ve ever found you’re talking to yourself then you are in good company. A read of the Psalms and you’ll find references to King David speaking to his soul. But while I might have caught myself mumbling about the need for a coffee or questioning myself as to why did I walk into this room, King David shows more intentionality with his soul talk.
David’s life had its ups and downs, highs and lows. There were the threats to his very life, the problem with sin and its consequences, battles lost, to list just a few. And when we turn to the Psalms where he pours out his heart and expresses his vulnerability we find a key to pressing in with God. Frequently David is found to be telling his soul to worship God, to remember all that God has done for him, to be at rest. It’s a key that moves him past troubles, to take the focus off what is troubling him and magnify God in the situation. As David encouraged his soul to focus on God we see that his strength, his hope is restored.
When we focus on God, when we turn to Him for encouragement, we find that strength comes, hope returns and our soul can be at rest.
“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy.” (Psalm 103:1-5)
“Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God.” (Psalm 42:10)
“Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul. While I live will I praise the Lord: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being. (Psalm 146:1-2)
I could hazard a guess that if I were to ask how you were the word “busy” would appear at some point in your answer. It seems to be the default answer nowadays and almost what we are expected to say. Busy means successful and fulfilled right? We wear the “busy” like a badge of honour as if it is something to aspire to. Yet answering “busy” says nothing about our enjoyment of life or even whether we are “achieving” in life! Being busy should not be our identity or goal. If anything it merely suggests an overwhelmed schedule. More often than not the answer “busy” is given with an undertone of tiredness and exhaustion.
In the pace of busyness it is our personal margins of space that are neglected. The time to take a pause, to rest is what is sacrificed and we are easily left overwhelmed, tired and feeling much like we’re only one nostril above water. Yet, in this life where technology keep us continually connected to work and the online world we can find space in the pace. We can find balance within the crazy.
We find it in GRACE. God’s grace.
Grace is an important and powerful spiritual reality. It is a resource that we have unlimited access to through Jesus. God’s grace helps and empowers us through busy seasons of life. In the crazy pace of life God has grace for us. It is fuel, it is a supernatural enabling for us. God’s grace empowers and strengthens us.
“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)
