It is in God’s shadow, in this nearness to Him that we experience rest. Real rest. Rest from anxiety, fear, enemies, stress… all the things that tire us and sap our energy and crush our spirits. And it’s not necessarily a lying-down rest, it’s a peaceful rest in the midst of our goings-on, our doing.
We must choose take shelter in Him, to remain shadow distance from Him and experience this rest found nowhere else.
Like the psalmist, we need to make these declarations:
• God ALONE is MY refuge.
• God ALONE is MY place of safety.
• God is MY God.
• I TRUST God.
These declarations remind us and the watching world, both physical and spiritual, that WE are not God. We are not refuge, safety, or trustworthy. We are not to be worshipped. These remind us to step completely off the throne of our lives and see Him as sovereign.
So often we release the rule of our lives to God only to go back and try to scoot onto the throne beside Him, thinking we can take control, taking more and more until we edge Him off. We must give Him control, let go, and leave it that way.
As I compared the versions of these verses, I realized that in the original Hebrew, FOUR names of God are used: Elyon (God on high), Shaddai (Self-sufficient, Protector), Adonai (Master, Lord), and Elohim (Infinite, Powerful, Creator).
One God, seen in all these ways. This is the God we trust to take control of our lives. The ONLY God who is ABLE to do so.
Let’s work at stepping off the throne of our lives and allowing the One who is fully able to rule have it. Let’s not step back up to it except to worship and honor Him, rebuking the thought, “I’ve got this!” and instead seeking Him for everything, even the little things that we think we shouldn’t bother Him for.
Coffee, Bible, Journal.
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Faye Bryant is an author, coach, and speaker who helps individuals escape the lies of the enemy, live into God’s truth, and build a better life by first feeling, dealing, and healing their way through a stuck future or an abused past, toward a deeper path of purpose, and into the unhackable life of their chosen legacy. Hers is a story of resurrection: from death to life!