May 1

In Silence My soul waits

             For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my deliverance and my honor; my mighty rock, my refuge is in God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Those of low estate are but a breath, those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath. Put no confidence in extortion, and set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, do not set your heart on them. Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God, and steadfast love belongs to you, O Lord. For you repay to all according to their work.

Psalm 62:5-12

            At the end of the day we have silence and we have hope.  When our life is over and our race is run and the noises of the world have faded away, our souls will wait for our judgement and we will hope that what we have based our lives upon has been right.  No one knows for sure.  To know for sure we would need to have a personal experience.  What we have instead are the testimonies of others and our own encounters with God in this life and the hope that He is faithful to His promises.  That is the best deal that I have found so far, but it is hope, not knowledge.

            God repays all according to their works.  God does not look at how much money you ended up with to judge whether we are worth accepting.  He does not consider whether we climbed the social ladder or plummeted down it.  He does not have a quota of men, women, majority culture, minority culture, rich, poor, educated or poor that Heaven can handle.

            Did we know Him in this life?  Did we align our hearts with His?  Our actions…our “works” are the external reflections of the state of our hearts.  Will they display that our priorities and values are the same as God’s or not?  Did we know Him and rest in Him? When my son was tiny, sleep was at a premium.  We would walk him or sing to him or take him for drives or swaddle him or my wife would nurse him.  It seemed like we would figure out something that worked and then a couple days later it would be completely ineffective.  Other adults would try to help.  They would offer to walk him or hold him or sing to him, confident that he would calm down at their touch.  He would cry and scream and flail so hard that they would quickly give him back and look for other, more cooperative babies.  My son was visibly stressed when he was held by strangers, but when he was with his parents, especially his mother, he would be able to relax and allow himself to sleep.  For a long time he would only sleep when he was touching one of us; if we tried to move him, he would panic and pull himself back to consciousness and the cycle would start all over again.

            Just as an aside, can I just say how grateful I am that we are out of that stage?  So grateful.

            Anyway, this is the image that springs to my mind as I read the psalm.  God is not looking for good workers or brilliant men and women who will amaze him with their intellect.  He is not looking for the most dutiful and pious individuals.  He is not looking for those with the most ambition or the best physical traits or anything else that we like to put on resumes.  He is looking for men and women who know the sound of His heartbeat, the feel of His skin, and relax and find peace as they fall asleep on His chest.

            When we are tired…when we are broken…when we are stressed out and desperately in need of peace and rest, where do we turn?  Learn a lesson from our children.  They know that when they have reached their limits, they turn to mom and dad and collapse in their arms.  That is the same invitation that our Heavenly Father has for us.  Find peace and stillness in God’s arms when the world is too much and we just need a break.

A moment to reflect:

The next time you feel the need to self-medicate through food, alcohol, Netflix, gaming or whatever your coping strategy of choice is, try sitting quietly with God for a few minutes instead and picture yourself falling asleep on His chest.  Just see if anything happens.