NOT TODAY GOD

Do you ever have those days when you wish God would go away?

Just writing that statement sounds so ludicrous.  I would never want to admit to anyone or myself that I wanted God to go away.  Making that statement makes me feel like a lightning rod just waiting to be struck. But let’s admit to one another, there are those days when we feel so defeated and beaten down that there is nothing left in us to reach out to God. Or those days when we are so angry and hurt that we can’t even begin to imagine how or where God fits into this picture.

When I read the following verse, it just so happened to be one of those days. I’m shocked I even picked up the bible that day.  I doubt I was really searching for God. It was just habit, or my bible app sent me a notification to read.  This is what I read…

“You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you,

all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” Isaiah 26:3 NLT

Beautiful verse!!!! 

But NOT TODAY GOD!

Today will not be a day of peace let alone perfect peace!

“Not today God…I can’t find peace and I don’t want peace.

And did You really have to use the word Perfect to describe the peace that you want to give me? Have you seen my life? Do you see the huge mess that it is in?  I don’t think peace is possible let alone PERFECT peace. If you must give me something just give me a little bit of peace, but we won’t be reaching perfection any time today!”

On this day, my life was in such a state of agitation that I couldn’t have found peace if I were fishing in a stocked pond of peace.  It’s like going to a carnival as a kid and fishing in the plastic duck pond.  All those little duckies are swimming around in their innocence not aware that one of their duckie tails has the grand prize attached to their butt.  You choose your duckie hoping you get the grand prize. When the attendant pulls it up and flips the duckie over, you have the face of a disappointed duckie fisherperson.  You win the consolation prize but not the grand prize…a little bitty tootsie roll that you down in one chew.

That is how I felt that day…disappointed that all I could find was the consolation prize. I was tired, confused and hurt; and let’s throw in a bit of anger there to complete the ensemble.

What do we do on those days (or for me, those weeks) when peace and especially perfect peace doesn’t exist?

What do we do when we are spending our day simply trying not to lose our mind, let alone experience perfect peace?

Is this scripture only used on those “feel good” days when we understand the feeling of peace?

Or is this peace meant for today? The day when we feel no peace, no calm, no contentment…the day when we feel like the world hates us and we can’t figure out why.

Snap…snap…nope, I don’t feel any peace.  I thought if I just snapped my fingers then maybe this feeling of unease would disappear, and the feeling of peace would take over. But it doesn’t.

So, what do we do? We go back to the pond and keep fishing.  We don’t give up.  We take our magnetic pole and place it back into the pond of duckies and fish until we attach our magnetic pole to the grand prize duckie.  We settle for nothing less than perfect peace.

How do we do it? We grab our weapon. We reach for the weapon that will win this battle for perfect peace and we fight for it.  Remember, that a fight is not won on the one single blow. It’s a series of punches that over time wears the opponent down.  If I can’t win my prize of perfect peace with one blow, I will throw punch after punch so I can reach my goal of perfect peace.

What is my weapon? The most powerful part of my body…my eyes. I will use my eyes to stare down my opponent. My eyes give me focus. So, I will use my eyes to focus on what is right. When my eyes divert or become distracted by the pain, or hurt or anger, I will adjust my focus. God says through this writer that He will keep us in perfect peace when we are focused on Him. Don’t look to the left or to the right at the pain or hurt, look straight down the center to focus on Jesus.  

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.” Philippians 4:8

Finding perfect peace is all about focus.  If we focus on the hurt, the pain, the frustration; we will live out the hurt, the pain, and the frustration. But if we focus on what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and admirable, then our outcome for the day will be much different. 

Does this mean we don’t feel the pain and hurt?

Absolutely not…because pain and hurt are real. 

That’s why we need Jesus. That is why we have a Savior.

But when we focus on the bad, we live in the bad. When we focus on the good, we live in the good.  Good gives us perspective. It gives us perspective of hope and clarity for eternity. 

So, here is a 60 second scenario of this struggle for me…

                59 seconds of feeling the pain and hurt (and a couple of cookies)

                Final second…Jesus

I will do this however long it takes until it becomes…

                1 second pain and hurt…

                59 seconds Jesus.

YES, TODAY GOD!