What Do You Do When You Don't Know What To Do?

Note:  This post is borrowed, with previous permission, and received via email from A Norvell Note.  It's a great lesson for all of us.

  

A Norvell Note

Vol. 13 No. 31  August 2, 2010

What Do You Do When You Don’t Know What To Do?

What do you do when you don’t know what to do? 

You are awakened in the middle of the night by a strange sound. What do you do? 

The lab reports from the doctor come back and they are not what you had hoped for. What do you do?

You get a notice that your job must make some tough decisions and your job is one of the ones being eliminated. What do you do?

You receive a notice from the bank that your account is overdrawn...again. There is no money to deposit. What do you do?

You have called your son’s cell phone for three or four days and still no answer. It’s not like him to ignore your calls. You are beginning to fear the worst. What do you do?

When things are not going well, when life is tough, and when things are not turning out the way you had hoped they were supposed to do, our tendency is to react, to try to fix it, or to resort to our own resources. When things are not going the way we want we assume that we have done something wrong, or someone is out to get us, or that God has forgotten us. When life is not treating us like we think it should be, we may even begin to think that God is not good. 

So, what can we do?

Here’s one suggestion: Be still. Stop as much of the activity as you can. Be quiet. Back off making decisions. Be quiet and listen to what God is saying to you. Remember that God is good. 

Be still and read Psalm 46.

1 God is our refuge and strength, 

       an ever-present help in trouble.

2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
       and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

3 though its waters roar and foam
       and the mountains quake with their surging.        

Stop, be quiet, remember that God is good, and listen to what He is saying.

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
       the holy place where the Most High dwells.

5 God is within her, she will not fall;
       God will help her at break of day.

6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
       he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

7 The LORD Almighty is with us;
       the God of Jacob is our fortress.        

Stop, be quiet, remember that God is good, and listen to what He is saying.

8 Come and see the works of the LORD,
       the desolations he has brought on the earth.

9 He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;
       he breaks the bow and shatters the spear,
       he burns the shields [b] with fire.

10 "Be still, and know that I am God;
       I will be exalted among the nations,
       I will be exalted in the earth."

11 The LORD Almighty is with us;
       the God of Jacob is our fortress.       

Stop, be quiet, remember that God is good, and listen to what He is saying.

What do you do when you don’t know what to do? Stop, be quiet, remember that God is good, and listen to what He is saying.

Tom

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