For Wisdom Wednesday, I started thinking last night about whether Scripture has changed me at all this week. Just the exercise of asking myself this question is good for me. I’ve read the Bible this week. I even thought about it. I didn’t always forget what I had read. But the question is, has Scripture changed the way I think, or what I have done, this week? That’s not a question I can answer glibly in ten seconds.
It’s embarrassing to state that God’s Word (when I read and obey it) is still challenging me to do simple things I keep writing about— wash the dishes when I’m tired, make a phone call, take the time to talk to Laurel when she seems like she’s avoiding going to bed but really afraid for her dad. Those things are simply the result of walking with God, not necessarily a specific passage that is changing me.
I’m reading through the life of David right now, and the chronological plan I’m reading inserts Psalms that were written during certain events (and some that carry the same theme). Mostly I think I’ve been reminded of God’s goodness and greatness. That helps me to rest in God’s care, to call on God for wisdom, to remember what God has done for me.
I love this passage.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;like a weaned child is my soul within me.
O Israel, hope in the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore. Psalm 131:2-3
I like the imagery of a young child who feels safe with his mother. He may have been crying in fear, but in mother’s arms, he calms down. Just like David, I can deliberately calm and quiet my soul.
That’s what God is reminding me this week. If I am going to have a calm and quiet soul, I have to deliberately take the time to dwell in the secret place of the most high. That is, I must spend more than five minutes of daily bread if I am to trust God. When in the past few months I was “too busy” to spend that time, everything in my life suffered. I’m remembering that it’s a good thing to be calm and quiet, even when my circumstances are not. God’s grace is sufficient for me.
How is God’s Word changing you this week?
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