“Many people say, ‘Who will show us better times?’
Let your face smile on us, Lord.
You have given me greater joy than those who have abundant harvests of grain and new wine.
In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe.”
[Psalms 4:6-8]
Transcript
Hello and happy 2021. Today, we are going to take a “Posture of Peace” by peacefully practicing total trust.
Posture is a short, audible fist bump to remind you God is with you in everything. Together, we’re going to be emboldened to take a daily Posture of perfect peace.
In Psalm 4:6-8, it says, “Many people say who will show us better times? Let your face smile file on us Lord, You have given me greater joy than those who have abundant harvest of grain and new wine. In peace, I will lie down and sleep for you alone Lord will keep me safe.”
If you are already feeling overwhelmed or perhaps totally lost by trying to make the most of this new year ahead, I just wanna encourage you right now, wherever you are, lean away from perfectionism and lean into peace. I wanna share some excerpts from a journal entry of mine that I wrote this time last year. Now, I was frustrated this time last year because I felt like I lacked concrete plans. I had no impressive or articulate overview of what I wanted to accomplish in the year ahead and like, I kind of felt like everyone around me had really impressive goals and plans. All I really felt like I had for 2020 where these possibilities that were stirring in my heart and so I wrote those possibilities down this time last year. I wrote, perhaps what you think will be your new hustle in 2020, God will use for your healing instead.
Perhaps instead of a specific place, you’ll make the Lord your home in 2020, perhaps peace will be your driver in 2020. Now there was a theme that was emerging in these possibilities, really they were prayers of mind and that theme was total trust, not in what I could necessarily pull off or build or launch on my own but in what the Lord could do in me and through me. And soon after I wrote these words my husband, Bruce and I we both sensed that God was inviting us on a fresh adventure in 2020 and maybe you’re feeling this too, maybe you’re feeling those possibilities at the start of a new year. God asked us to let go of some things that we never wanted to release and He asked us to hold onto some things that honestly just felt too big for us to carry but in His kindness He let us know ahead of time, it would really only start make sense as we trusted Him by taking a step and moving forward with Him. So we had a decision to make for the year ahead. And that decision was, would we totally trust Him? Would we be moved by our own sentiments? Would we be driven by the expectations of others? Would we be directed by all that was happening in the world around us or would we choose to only be led by God Himself? And we decided to say yes to only God in 2020.
Now here’s the thing, it was not a one-time yes . It would be an ongoing yes all year long but this time last year when we started to say that, yes to only the Lord, I honestly was nervous because I didn’t trust myself to get it right and I didn’t trust others to understand but that was the point. I wanted the safety of clarity and like ability and concrete plans but God wanted my freedom and real freedom was only gonna come through a total trust that I was completely loved and sustained by Him even in the imperfection and misunderstanding. He was inviting us to be empowered by His grace alone. Not because of who we were but because of who He is, He was saying, “hey, you can lean into me. You can lean into my nature”. And as 2020 presented a lot of things that could have tossed just around, God taught Bruce and I that trust was not a feeling or a saying it was action. And this looked like us disallowing fear and perfectionism from being the thing that fueled our activity or our inactivity. And here’s the thing our ongoing yes was not perfectly executed last year but it was peacefully practiced and practice makes permanent.
God delights in our practice not our perfectionism. Putting the truth into practice that takes trust in God’s empowering grace, perfectionism puts the truth in the question, it constantly asks things like is God really trustworthy? Is He really who He says He is? Or do I need to take control and rely on my own strength and stamina to get this done to make things happen, to make my life count. But in our practice of trusting the truth, God never falters. He proves Himself faithful over and over again and not just through specific circumstances or desired results and outcomes, but by His solid presence in every circumstance, no matter the outcome. What Bruce and I found was the truth last year that God never leaves us and He never forsakes us. I hadn’t planned to launch something like Posture this time last year but God knew what was possible. So I wonder what possibilities He’s stirring in you for 2021.
What areas in your life is He asking you to totally trust Him? God wants your freedom, He wants it more than you do. So make a resolution, make a firm decision to rest in His plans for you. And you may have to make that decision over and over again this year, don’t dread it, don’t feel condemned by it, don’t feel like it’s a heavyweight. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Delight in the practice of totally trusting Him this year.