May The Sun Stand Still
- bordenmscott
- Nov 15, 2022
- 5 min read
This week kicked off with a cold spreading through the Scott house, so for the Overflow I’m mostly sticking to a mid-week devotional!
Every time life gets thrown off track again by some complication I can fall into frustration pretty quickly. There are a lot of different responsibilities to uphold in a given week – it’s not always easy to feel like I’ve done enough when everything goes right!
This is one of those areas where accepting that something is true doesn’t easily lead to feeling that it is true. I accept that it is true that I am finite and limited and often weak, and that God made me this way. I should more graciously accept this, remembering that God is running the universe and doesn’t actually need my help to accomplish what He wants to accomplish. But I struggle with feeling that this is true and not succumbing to panic and fears of disappointing others when it’s just not possible to operate at full speed.
One passage that was introduced to me to help in this area is from Joshua chapter 10. This passage describes a battle where Joshua is commanding the Israelites against the armies of five kings who had joined forces. These kings first attacked an ally of the Israelites and Joshua brought his army to respond. Joshua won an initial victory, but wanted to pursue and destroy these kings and their armies so they wouldn’t be a continued threat.
At one point Joshua asked God to let the sun stand still to give more time for his army to route the enemy. And God did!
The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a human being. Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel! (Joshua 10:13b-14)
One take-away from this? If you’re doing something that God needs done, He will make a way for it to get done. Maybe that will be through you – God can give the energy, strength, or focus needed to help you. The God who can make the sun stand still can provide you enough time to do what He asks!
And maybe it’s not going to be completed through you. Maybe it’s a task that’s meant to be shared, or given to another person. What matters is that God’s will is done, not that you be the person to cross the finish line holding the proverbial baton.
So, if you are feeling frustrated by things that are not going according to (your) plan, or feel like you are struggling to be enough for the people around you, or like you must always be on your game, here is an opportunity for you offered as the mid-week devotional.
I invite you to take a moment before you begin to be quiet before God. Then consider ways that you feel weak or inadequate. Carry these thoughts and feelings into the prayers and scripture here:
Prayer - From Henri Nouwen (1932 - 1996)
O Lord, please accept my distractions, my fatigue, my irritations, and my faithless wanderings. You know me more deeply and fully than I know myself. You love me with a greater love than I can love myself. You even offer me more than I can desire. Look at me, see me in all my misery and inner confusions, and let me sense your presence in the midst of my turmoil.... Take my tired body, my confused mind, and my restless soul into your arms and let me rest, simple quiet rest.
Amen
2nd Corinthians 12:7
Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Isaiah 40:10
Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will also help you, I will also uphold you with My righteous right hand.
Philippians 4:12-13
I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Prayer (From Cavalry Prayer Tower: https://calptower.org/inadequacy/)
Dear LORD Jesus, Although I am neither persuasive in my words nor adequate in life, I thank You for Your encouragement – Your Word says that not many who are called are wise or influential and not many come from a noble birth. And God, You chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise and You chose the weak things to put to shame those who are mighty so that no one may boast before Your presence.
Therefore, I will most gladly freely admit my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Your grace is sufficient for me and Your power is made perfect in my weaknesses; when I am weak, then I am strong. Christ has become for me wisdom from God.
Father God, give me a discerning heart that I may distinguish between right and wrong. Fill me with the knowledge of Your Will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
O LORD, You are the Potter, I am the clay; let all the treasures within this earthen vessels of mine are the excellence and power of God and not of me. Indeed, I am wonderfully made. For the Spirit of the LORD is on me, He has anointed me and bestowed on me a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. For whom God foreknew He also predestined and those He predestined He also called; those He called, He also justified; and those He justified, He also glorified. I will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD to display His splendour. Then Spirit of the LORD is upon me because He has anointed me to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favour.
Thank You LORD, I receive.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen
Comments