Stirred, but not shaken

We are living in troubling times. Our country is a mess, quite frankly, and we are seeing all manner of chaos as a result. We'd like fix blame for all the calamity we are experiencing right now with civil unrest, viral attacks on our bodies, and even failed fiber circuitry that cripples millions of cell phone users. We have to assume some of this blame ourselves. It isn't the government that is to blame for civil unrest - it is human nature at its worst. It isn't medical science or some evil terrorist group to blame for a virulent virus attacking our world right now - it is part of viral mutations that occur all the time and get an inroad into human hosts, oftentimes quite undetected until it is too late to stop the inevitable spread. It isn't one cell service provider to blame for the massive outage in service - it is likely our overuse of these devices we have come to rely upon that tax an aging system of very intricate circuitry. "Fixing blame" isn't really something we like to do especially when the blame points in any direction close to where we stand or sit right now! We don't like all these worries, so if we can 'blame' someone else for them, it somehow takes the pressure off of us. The truth of the matter is there will always be worries and cares beyond our ability to control and when they come, no matter how they come, we will have no greater source of strength in dealing with them than to take them to Jesus as they come!

Give all your cares to the Lord and He will give you strength. He will never let those who are right with Him be shaken. (Psalm 55:22)

Give all your cares - this is an action, not something passively accomplished. We actually have to take what it is we are worrying over right now and cease holding onto them. We have to give them over to Jesus and this is harder for us than most of us would like to admit. We don't like to be 'out of control' in our lives and somehow 'turning things over to Jesus' just seems like it won't be quick enough, done the way we'd expect it to be done, or a combination of both! To 'give' one's cares to Jesus is more than a simple prayer telling Jesus what we are worrying about right now. I can tell you a whole bunch of stuff is bothering me, but until I allow you to actually take on something that is bothering me, removing it from my 'plate of worries', and then allow you to set about putting yourself behind taking care of the issue, I am just telling you about my worries. I haven't turned them over and actually released myself from needing to control the outcome. When I let you go about taking care of the worry for me, I am letting go and in the end, the results will not be my doing - they will be yours, but I will reap the benefits! As we turn stuff over to Jesus and truly let him work on the issues at hand, we are going to see the benefits.

He will give you strength - our giving away isn't going to leave us devoid of anything. In fact, we 'get' more than we 'give' each and every time we turn something over to Jesus. He gives us strength - beyond our abilities and definitely beyond our problem's depth, breadth, or width! God's 'bandwidth' isn't limited like ours is - his is infinite! There are no 'outages' in his power - it is without fail. His answer to unrest is something we cannot produce in our own strength - it is peace and that isn't ever found in our abilities, but in his presence. In the end, what shakes us to the core will no longer be able to shake us. His strength and peace is 'foundation' for our soul - it gives us 'strong fibers' that aren't easily torn apart or shaken until they become weak and crumble. His strength isn't superficial - it is deeply worked into the fibers of our being until we are 'solid' and 'upright'. Want to not be shaken by what we see going on around us today? Then give those cares to him - his strength will come in waves of grace and peace over and over again until we no longer feel 'shaken' by all the world hurls our way. Just sayin!