Do you ever feel like life has passed you by?  Where are you? At the winter of your life with more days behind you than ahead of you?  Or perhaps exhausted from the Christian journey and feeling completely spent?  Do you feel like you’re old and probably of no use anymore?

Sometimes, these feelings are from a lifetime of struggle, but at other times they can resemble an excuse.  I remember back when I was in a Garden Club, the older ladies encouraged the younger women to do all the work because they felt it was part of the club’s seasonal cycle.  The older ladies had paid their dues when they were younger and did all the work back then.  Now it was someone else’s turn.  The older ladies felt too old to be on the field, preferring to let the parade go on and just watch from the stands.

Abraham and Sarah might have felt that way.  Too old to have kids.  Their lifetime had been spent childless and they’d come to accept that the parade has passed them by.  So when God tells them their lives still have purpose, they were surprised. 

Feelings of uselessness and resignation are enemies of stillness.  Excuses are what we sometimes offer in order to not feel so bad about giving in to these enemies.  You can lay these feelings down at the Cross of the One who calls you every moment to a life of useful service and purpose.

Romans 4:16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring– not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. 17 As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed– the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were. 18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead– since he was about a hundred years old– and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

Are you persuaded in that way? 

Like Abraham, are you fully persuaded that God has the power to do His will? 

Be Still.  Listen in hope to hear what I want to do in your life.  I’m supplying your ongoing breath for a reason.

Be Still.  Purpose comes from Me and is not a function of your age or natural abilities.  Some things are done best in the stillness of the winter of your life.

Be Still and Know that I AM God.  I give life to the dead and call things that are not as though they are.

Be Still and Know that I AM God.  Believe that I have the power to do anything I want in your life.  I’m looking for your continued willingness.

Questions for reflection:

1. How might getting older become an excuse we use to keep us from remaining active in Christian service?
2. When we feel like the parade has passed us by, what does that say about us and our view of God?
3. What are some things that older Christians can do that younger Christians with families and fulltime employment might find more difficult to do?
4. “Older Christians can find themselves demanding to be served by the church (with their favorite music and activities) because they feel like they’ve paid their dues all these years.  They use their money and time to lobby churches to satisfy their preferences at the expense of reaching younger people.”  Do you agree or disagree with this statement?  Why?  What does your answer possibly say about views of Christian service?

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. (Hebrews 11:8)

Where are you, Abraham?  I am stepping out in faith, but I don’t know where You are taking me.

Have you ever felt like that?

Uncertainty and confusion are enemies of stillness.  We can have confidence in our past because we know how it all turns out.  The future frightens us because we don’t know it and can’t control it.

I can only imagine that Abraham must have wanted a little more regular communication from God.  Something like God’s voice ahead of him saying, “Walk here. Turn here. Stop here.”  Or like a map or a GPS giving indication of what’s ahead so you know when to turn or stop.

Genesis 12:1 The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.”

God didn’t show Abraham what was ahead.  He just said, “Go.”

Faith isn’t built by having God show us what’s ahead. Faith is built by confidently pressing into the unknown, listening to the voice of God in each and every moment.  Believing God always takes place most profoundly in the present for the future.

Like a parent holding the hands of a baby who is learning to walk, God does not walk before us, leading the way.  He walks behind us while holding our hands to let us develop confidence in stepping out.

If uncertainty and confusion are enemies of stillness, we can discover both trust and order in a faith relationship, in the stillness and nearness of God who holds our hands.

Be Still.  Confidence is found in the One who loves you.

Be Still.  I know the future.  While I might let you fall from time to time, it’s not to harm you but to help you develop confidence in stepping out in faith. I will never let you down.

Be Still and Know that I AM God.  The future belongs to Me.  I know the end of the story.

Be Still and Know that I AM God. The future may be unknown to you, but you can Know Me, the One who knows the future.

Questions for reflection:

1. How often do we fear what the future holds?  What does it say about our trust in God?
2. Why is the unknown more frightening than what we can reasonably predict?  How does control play into that?
3. Read Romans 8:31 “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all– how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”  How can this encourage us to step confidently into the future?

Where are you, people? Trying to build a legacy? Does that legacy include worship of God or are you too busy making a name…for yourselves?

Genesis 11:1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. 3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” 5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. 6 The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” 8 So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel–because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

Progress has a way of interfering with stillness.

Remember when people told us that email was going to free up so much of our time? Kind of makes you want to go back in time and slap that person. Computers were going to make our lives simpler. In some ways, life seems easier but it’s often just quicker. Therefore, we cram more into less time and make a name for ourselves called “Productivity” or “Efficiency.” But when the crash happens, the virus comes, or the software doesn’t work right, it can get pretty stressful.

With smart phones, iPods, and laptops, it seems that technology and progress want to follow us into the most quiet and private places.  Into worship even. It breaks into the stillness with its beeps and buzzes and blings. Even on silent mode in church, it can be a visual distraction, taking you away from focus on God and into making a name for yourself.

Be Still. Put the phone away for a while. You’ll be glad you did.

Be Still. Open a paper copy of your Bible and pray as you meet with Me in the pages.

Be Still. Turn off the noise and be amazed at the feel of your beating heart or the sound of the breath of life in you.  I put it there.

Be Still and Know that I AM God. I’m not one of a million distractions and I certainly don’t want to feel like a smartphone is coming between us.

Be Still and Know that I AM God. I will do what I must to get your attention and to bring you to the humble place of stillness. Better, isn’t it, that you do it willingly rather than as a last resort?  The texts can wait.  The emails can wait.  I want to spend some time with you–in my Word, in prayer, and in song.

Questions for reflection:

1.  Where does reading Scripture fall in your priorities for the day?  Do you feel prepared to take on the day only if you read the news, Facebook status updates, and emails?  Or is reading God’s Word part of your preparation?
2. Do you view obstacles to achieving your goals of building a reputation and a name as being God’s wake-up call to a better life or as a problem to be overcome?
3. How do technology and progress impact your life?  Even good things can come between us and the peace God desires to give us in the stillness.

Noah (see Genesis 6:5-7:23) must have felt pretty awkward.  To have insider’s knowledge that he and his family were the only ones to be saved in the flood that was coming.  To be told to build an ark to survive the flood when nonstop rain wasn’t even on the long range forecast or in the Farmer’s Almanac.  People watching must have thought that he was an idiot.

Think about it, it’s not like the ark was built overnight and then boom: thunder, lightning and rain.  It took some time to build.  Day after day, he probably pressed on with his work knowing that he was going to be saved and any curiosity-seekers or scoffers were going to perish.  He didn’t build the ark in a vacuum and it’s not like he could hide it in his garage workshop.  There were people around and human nature being what it was (“only evil all the time”) one doesn’t stretch too far imagining that they saw Noah building away, and these gawkers thought things even if we have no record of words they said in taunting.

Did Noah experience pre-survivor’s guilt? 

Did he try to convince others to repent or did his simply building the ark testify to that necessity?

Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

Faith and holy fear lead us to a place of stillness.  Stillness in the storm.  And the worldly culture can never know this peace.  It’s far too busy ridiculing those of faith, condemning us as stupid, old-fashioned, and unscientific.  Sure, there will be distractions of people challenging our Christian faith and lampooning our love of God.  If you follow Christ, chances are good you’ve felt alone and been ridiculed.

Where are you, Noah?  All alone and feeling like a fool? 

Ridicule is an enemy of stillness.  Press on diligently at your work and keep your eyes steadfastly above.

Be Still.  Wisdom will be proved right in the end.

Be Still.  Hold onto your faith. Persevere!

Be Still and Know that I AM God.  I told you this would happen.  Luke 17:26 “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.”

Be Still and Know that I AM God. Keep your eyes on Me and remain faithfully watching.  Matthew 24:42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

Questions for reflection:

1. Are you living by faith and in holy fear of God?
2. How ready are you for His return?
3. How do you respond to the distractions of people making fun of Jesus and your walk with Christ?

Cain was angry and his face showed it. “Where are you, Cain?” God might ask.

Genesis 4: 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. 4 But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. 6 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”

Where are you?  Why are you angry?  It’s not that God doesn’t know Cain is standing there angry with his hand on the spiritual doorknob. He knows the rage inside Cain was looking for a chance to take him down a bad path. Cain was thinking of inviting a sinful response to the anger he felt.

Sin is crouching at your door, God says. Don’t let it in, Cain. You be the master of it instead of letting it master you. Take stock of where you are and why you’re angry.

• Is it petty jealousy?
• Sibling rivalry?
• Is it the painful feeling of rejection that you genuinely don’t understand? Or is it simply anger at being rejected?
• Is it knowing you could have given God your very best but you were looking to cut a few corners? And you got caught taking the cheap and easy route?
• Are you angry because things didn’t go your way?
• Is it anger at how others always seem to get the praise and you never do?
• Is it that awful feeling that your anger is getting out of control and you really don’t know how to rein it in?

Anger can get in the way of our peace with God.

Sin is the archenemy of stillness, but not all anger is sin.

Anger is a genuine human emotion that we get from being created in the image of God.

God’s anger is always holy though.

Humans need to sort out righteous anger from its far more common cousin regular anger. For some of us anger and management are two words that just don’t seem to go together. But we must master it.

Be Still. Don’t jump to anything. Master yourself, then master that sin continually wanting to stage a coup.  Lay your anger down at My throne.

Be Still. Gain some perspective before doing or saying anything. Ask yourself why you’re angry?

Be Still. Know that sin is your enemy, but also know I AM waiting to be your very best advocate.

Be Still and Know that I AM God. Cain, your response of remaining angry shows that you lost perspective of what worship was supposed to be.  Worship Me.  I AM God alone.

Be Still and Know that I AM God. If you do what is right…with a right heart…you will be accepted.  I AM God and I look with favor upon righteousness.

Be Still and Remember that I AM God.

Questions for reflection:

1. What triggers make you angry?
2. Are there certain people who make you feel angry? What about them makes you angry?
3. How do you deal with anger? Do you internalize it, vent it on someone else, or bring it to God?
4. In what ways are anger and worship connected?
5. When God asked Cain why he was angry, what do you think Cain’s honest response would have been to that question?
6. Read Psalm 32.  How can recalling God’s perspective help you to Be Still and lay your anger down?

“Where are you?”  Those words have echoed through the centuries.

Where are you?” God asks.

He’s not looking for information that He doesn’t already know.  He’s looking to call us out of the grip of sin—the archenemy of stillness—and back to the peace and presence of God.

Genesis 3: 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

Where was God?  He was walking…in the garden…in the cool…of the day.  This is a picture of tranquility, peacefulness, stillness, and rest.  You can hear the babble of the brook as it gently tumbles over the rocks.  You can hear birds chirping softly.  And tree frogs singing their refrain.  God is walking among them and they joyfully sing their praises to Him.

Where were Adam and Eve?  Hiding, because they were ashamed and afraid.  They’d tried to cover themselves with leaves, but it wasn’t working.  Creative yet desperate attempts at covering our shame didn’t work then and they don’t work now.

“Where are you?” God might ask us.  Where is your heart?  What are you trying to hide from Me?  Don’t you think I already know?

“Where are you?” He might question so that we would take stock of where we are and what we’re doing.  He wants our own GPS to identify where we are in relation to God.  Are we like the rest of the peaceful garden?  Or do we have something to hide?

Be still.  You can come out of hiding.  I know where you are.

Be still.  I know what you have done.  I know it all.

Be still.  You cannot undo what you’ve done.  I’m not a God who looks to blame.  I’m a God who looks to love and forgive.

Know Me.  Know that I AM God.  I AM the God who made you.  I AM the God who loves you.  I AM the God who wants you to be with Me, in that place of rest and peace.

Know Me.  Know that I AM God.  I AM the God who forgives and will truly cover your shame.  I will do it Myself.

Be Still.  Know that I AM God.

* * *

Questions for Reflection:

1.  What are you trying to hide from God?  If nothing immediately comes to mind, bring it first to the human level.  What brings you thoughts of shame, things that you may be hiding from your parents, your children, your neighbors, your boss, and your friends?
2. What areas of your life have an unsettledness to them?  What do you worry about?  How might your coming closer to God and knowing He is God, help to give you peace in those areas?  What can you take out of hiding and lay before the God who knows?

Last night, the Oscars were on.  I rarely watch much of them.  Sure, I like the fashions and seeing if any movie I watched might have won something.  I just don’t like staying up late anymore.  But my husband asked me to stay up until after the In Memoriam section.

This year, I was struck by something.  As Bette Midler struggled through emotion to sing “You are the Wind beneath My Wings” during the In Memoriam, it occurred to me that she’d lost friends, probably plenty of them that year.  Picture by picture, the screen recorded how many of Hollywood’s notable people had their lives on earth conclude since the last Oscars.  As the parade of stars whose glitter faded as they hit the silver screen one last time, I turned to my husband and said, “Wow.  I wonder how many of them were Christians?”

There is a shallow immortality on a flat screen and its archives. 

All height and width–the depth is only illusory. 

Their lives had been spent portraying life–real life, historical life, fantasy life, animated life. 

But did they have true and eternal life when the glitter fades?

Hollywood is not known for its love of Christianity nor for honoring God Almighty.  Any of the stars who had faith in Jesus Christ probably kept it fairly close to the vest. 

Star light under a bowl.

I reflected back to earlier in the ceremonies on the bravery of Darlene Love, age 72, who was one of the actresses in the Best Documentary 20 Feet from Stardom.  Before exiting offstage with the rest of the Oscar recipients, she stepped up to the microphone to powerfully perform a cappella a short section of the gospel hymn His Eye Is on the Sparrow. She received a standing ovation.  Deservedly so.

I wonder how many of the people standing were doing this to honor the woman and her talent, how many might have been standing because it was African-American gospel and anything “black” is in right now, but also how many saw the bravery of a woman with conviction to stand and declare that God watches, that she knows what true freedom is, and that she knows what happens when the glitter fades.

By way of reminder, if you’re receiving these devotionals in your e-mail, keep watching for Be Still and Know that I AM God, the devotional series for Lent (2014) beginning March 5th, Ash Wednesday.

Finding value in others is a good trait to develop.  Showing grace where people need it.  Seeing that someone has worth and skill beneath the surface.  Noticing the diamond in the rough.  In the movie Moneyball, many of the scouts looked at players for their defects, failing to see them for their worth.  The use of sabermetrics cut through the subjective reasoning that scouts had traditionally used in player evaluations.

Peter Brand: People are overlooked for a variety of biased reasons and perceived flaws. Age, appearance, personality. Bill James and Mathematics cuts straight through that. Billy, of the twenty thousand knowable players for us to consider, I believe that there’s a championship team of twenty five people that we can afford. Because everyone else in baseball undervalues them. Like an island of misfit toys.

[to Billy, from his computer screen]
Peter Brand: Billy, this is Chad Bradford. He’s a relief pitcher. He’s one of the most undervalued players in baseball. His defect is that he throws funny. Nobody in the big leagues cares about him because he looks funny. He could not only be the best pitcher in our bull pen, but one of the most effective relief pitchers in all of baseball.

God records a similar inner-worth-finding in His choice of King David.  All of David’s brothers looked impressive.

1 Samuel 16:7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

Getting to the heart of the matter means that we see beyond the externals and look at things the way God sees them.  Humans dig around on the surface to locate defects.  God mines qualities found deep beneath the surface, things in the heart that only God can see.

Yes, there will always be people who’d prefer to look for defects instead of value.

Grady Fuson: Let me get this straight. So you’re not gonna bring in one, but three defective players to replace Giambi?

The scout Grady looked at players the sabermetrics said make sense and he saw 3 defective players that were being selected to replace one irreplaceable All-Star whose departure devastated the team.

Aren’t we all defective in some way, though?

1 Corinthians 1: 26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things– and the things that are not– to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God– that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.

When we judge the way God judges, see value in others the way God sees it, and moreover, when we see from the place of our own defects, we will see that we in the Church are a winning team, not because of how we look, or how righteous we are, or how devoid of defects we’ve been, but because He chose us to be His winning team.

[to the team in the locker room]
Billy Beane: Everybody, listen up! You may not look like a winning team, but you are one. So, play like one tonight.

To us in the Church, God would encourage us to play our hearts out like a winning team, to unabashedly advance the gospel, and to see the value in ourselves and others as being image bearers of God whose Image in us was worth sending Jesus to save.

* * *

This series included 3 Lessons from Moneyball

• http://seminarygal.com/spiritual-lessons-from-moneyball-part-1/
• http://seminarygal.com/spiritual-lessons-from-moneyball-part-2/
• http://seminarygal.com/spiritual-lessons-from-moneyball-part-3/