Summer seems to have flown by particularly fast this year. The long, lazy days of summer didn’t seem to be long or lazy enough.
And as soon as we start school, it’s as though I have a sixth sense for feeling fall in the air. And with fall comes the rush of a new season, a new school year, and a full schedule.
I get easily overwhelmed when there is more than one thing on my To-Do list. And as I mentioned in my last post, I have quite a few things on my To-Do list…big things. With some of them, there’s been a temptation to fret and stew.
But Scripture is clear that fretting and stewing does no good. Psalm 37:8 says, “…do not fret – it leads only to evil.” Nothing good can come from my fretting. It will only lead to evil – short tempers, mood swings, irritability, suspicions, controlling behavior, etc.
The opposite of fretting, however, is a calm and quiet heart. Psalm 131 shows us how to get one.
Psalm 131 teaches us that to have a calm and quiet heart, we must:
- Humble ourselves before the Lord – “my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high”
- Surrender our right to control – “I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me”
- Choose to be calm and quiet – “But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother”
- Trust in the Lord today, tomorrow, and always – “O Israel, hope in the LORD, from this time forth and forevermore”
We may be in a very busy or difficult season of life. We may fretfully be asking, “How will I ever get everything done?” or “How will I ever get through this?” The answer? Humble ourselves before the Lord, surrender control of our lives to Him, choose to have a quiet heart, and trust in the Lord day by day. As we do these things, we will experience a calm and quiet heart no matter how busy or difficult life may be.
If you want to study further on this topic of having a calm and quiet heart, I highly recommend the series by Nancy Leigh DeMoss, “How To Have a Quiet Heart.” These messages are available for download when you click on the link. I hope your heart is encouraged as much as mine was!
