Soul Serenity

Anxiety has permeated our culture. According to the National Institute of Mental Illness, "anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults ..." An anxiety disorder would be classified as excessive anxiety. And then there is an entire other category of plain old worry. We all have it, right? Think about it - right here, right now - what are you worried about?

As I picked up my Bible this morning, I was reminded that the opposite of worry is trust. Trust need not be complicated. Sometimes it's just crying out to God when you are at the end of what you can handle. Or it might be a simple prayer of surrender at the start of your day. In Psalm 131, David shares his heart with the LORD, and we are privy to listen in:

LORD, my heart is not haughty, 

     Nor my eyes lofty.

     Neither do I concern myself with great matters,

     Nor with things too profound for me. 

     Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul,

     Like a weaned child with his mother;

     Like a weaned child is my soul within me.

     O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forever. 

David first speaks of his humility before the LORD. He approaches the LORD after examining his life. He is contrite in his heart, in his eyes, and in his actions. He knows that concerning himself with matters beyond him will cause anxiety to burst forth. So in trusting the LORD with these things, he chooses to have the peace of a calmed and quieted soul. His hope is in the LORD, and he charges his spiritual family, the people of Israel, to do the same - trust in the LORD alone forever. 

So what is weighing on your heart this morning? What are your thoughts and cares fixed upon? I've not walked in your shoes, and you haven't walked in mine, so let's not claim to understand what each other is going through. But I can encourage you to take your heavy load to the cross and surrender the burden of carrying it. I can tell you that trusting the LORD with it will bring you great comfort in the depths of your soul - a peace that you and I can never understand. It's not a one-time thing. No, surrender is constant. And so is the peace that will accompany it. May the LORD give you the grace to trust Him.