Just Be Still and Trust Him!

The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Come and see what the LORD has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire. He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:7-10 NIV).

No matter what happens in the world--in any corner of the globe--when we know Him--we can rest assured that in the end, He will avenge all whose faith is planted, deeply embedded in Him.

The one thing we all have to realize about people is that God will not control their thoughts or their behavior. It's not that He can't--He simply won't. He has always given "mankind" choice--the freedom to choose our direction in life and the freedom to deal with the consequences, whatever they are. If God had wanted us cloned--all thinking and acting alike--He could have arranged that, but what would that have accomplished? He wants us to choose Him as the influencer in our lives rather than Satan. And if we live long enough, we will experience the benefits of choosing Him or the penalties of choosing Satan. Those are the only two choices--so now--we must choose today--who we will serve.

It is easy, in the face of adversity and emotional turmoil, to choose actions that later come back to bite us in the butt. That's why in the midst of chaos and emotional upheaval, we must stop and be still--thinking carefully about the choices we have in front of us and then choose wisely. For every action there is an equal reaction or consequence. The consequences of our actions will either be positive or negative, based upon our choices.

Those who have deliberately chosen to be part of a massacre of human beings either will or have received the swift consequence of their actions. There is no need for anyone to react--on a personal level--trying to seek vengeance for the wrongs committed, but there is a need for everyone--to be still and in the stillness--seek God and trust Him for the outcome.

Relationships have been ruined, businesses destroyed, families broken, and nations decimated when people react based upon emotions rather than trusting God. When we are angered, we need to stop and think before doing anything. Unless our lives are in immediate danger, we have time to reflect, analyze and decide--our course of action. Whatever that course of action is--we should make sure that the outcome totally resolves the issue rather than making it worse.

Picking up a gun to get back at someone we think has wronged us--will lead to consequences for more than the two parties involved. Lives are changed in an instant for families and friends and usually leave a web of anger and financial woes and grief. It's not worth it. We must learn to control our emotions and think about the consequences, before we do things that cannot be turned back.

There are no do-overs in  life as in the games people play. We can start a video game over, or we can re-start a board game, or any other type of game in which we can manipulate the outcome. Life--consideration of human life--is not a game and we cannot re-start anything once we put certain actions in motion. We cannot take angry, harsh words back once they enter into the atmosphere. We cannot recall a bullet from a gun drawn in anger, we cannot hit a refresh button to revive a child who has been suffocated or beaten to death. And we most certainly cannot turn back time once we have committed atrocious acts against humanity.

We can and we will learn to trust God--and the sooner we realize that we cannot manipulate the outcome of human behavior, the sooner we can be still and know--God's got this.