Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.”
NL Daily Devotion for Wednesday, June 15, 2022
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
I’m a big figure-it-out-er. Throughout my childhood and adolescence, any time I came up against a challenge or an obstacle, I brought to bear all my resources along with my formidable will and gosh darn it, I made things work. I had a reputation for being a problem-solver and a “tough cookie” and I embraced it.
Except at some point in my mid-to-late twenties, it became clear that there were quite a few challenges in my life that did not respond to my self-propelled bull-dozing. Faced with serious issues I could not longer just “figure out” I wandered off into food addiction, eating compulsively to take the edge off my discomfort with reality.
In recovery, the message was the one in today’s text. God will fight for you, and you have only to keep still. In other words: surrender. Stop trying to run the universe. Accept the things you can’t change. Commit to the daily, disciplined action of changing the things you can. Let God be God.
Had I heard this before recovery, I would have rolled my eyes and said it was way too oversimplified. Now, with close to two decades free of my compulsion, I can tell you that it really is that simple. Of course, simple does not mean easy. Trusting God with scary, overwhelming things is not easy. Letting go of control is not easy. Focusing on my own behavior while others’ behavior leaves a lot to be desired is not easy. But it works.
I have weathered enormous challenges over the past years—special-needs children, financial insecurity, and divorce, just to name a few—and through all things, God has stood firm for me and provided me with wise counselors, guides, mediators, and more, so that I don’t just survive these challenges, but thrive on the other side. My gratitude is immeasurable.
What has it looked like in my life to have God fight for me?
