Devotional | For when you need strength

My writing year starts in February with the school term, as school holidays and writing time are not compatible for me. And yet, February has come and gone and still I have found it hard to settle properly into a routine.

Maybe it was the snap lockdown at the beginning of the year that delayed the start of the school year by one week. Maybe it is the fact that I am settling my youngest into a new school and helping her navigate all the emotional ins and outs of the transition. And maybe, it is the sudden busyness after many relaxed weeks of school holidays.

We have just finished week four of a new school year, and already I am worn out. I feel like we are very busy, and I wonder how we will have time to do everything, and more specifically how I will have time to do my projects this year. Then these verses from Isaiah come to me:

In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength,

Isaiah 30:15 (NIV)

The key here is that I am looking for my strength in the wrong place. The strength I need to get through each day, to help my daughters, to do the writing. I have once again fallen into the trap of thinking it is all on my shoulders. That I need to manage the schedule, the emotions, and the creative muse!

The end of this verse highlights how ingrained it is for us to try and handle our lives ourselves, for it says, ‘but you would have none of it’.

Which is why the structure of the verse above is so key. It shows me how to regain my strength when I feel it failing. It shows me how to get my strength from the right source, the only one who can genuinely sustain me.

Repentance

This is the first and most important step. I need to come to God and acknowledge that he is the one from whom all wisdom flows, and that I can’t do this on my own. I need to acknowledge that I have been trying to do life without him, and it hasn’t gone brilliantly so far.

Rest

I find it frustrating that when I have repented and turned back to God he asks me to rest. Not to act. Not to create a program or schedule to manage my life. I am to rest.

He asks me to stop being so busy and just be. And more specifically he asks me to be with him. To rest in his presence and receive the deep soul restoration that comes from him alone.

Quietness

Similarly frustrating is that he asks me to be quiet. Quietness means I’m not speaking! I’m not offering ideas, or solutions, nor am I thinking through the best way to articulate my opinion.

The key about quietness is it frees me to listen. It enables me to genuinely hear from God. It means I am open and available to hear the wisdom of my father.

Trust

And finally, he asks me to trust. His solutions are often so very different to mine, his ways are not my ways. In fact, they often seem illogical or counter-intuitive to me.

But that is where my strength lies, in realising that I need his help, in stopping all my doing to just be with him. In slowing down and quieting down, enough to hear from him, and finally in trusting what I hear from him and walking that out in partnership with him.

And he is trustworthy. For, only a few verses on in this passage, God’s character is shown so beautifully:

Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you;
therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.

Isaiah 30:18 (NIV)

Our father is waiting patiently for us to turn to him and say, “I need help, I can’t do life without you, please give me your strength and wisdom for each day”.

Peace be with you,
Jodie

Reflection Questions:

Where do you need strength in your life at the moment? Which do you find hardest: repentance, rest, quietness or trust? Ask God for his wisdom and compassion, and that he will be your strength today.