Let joy be your resting place

"Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” Psalm 42:5 (NIV)

Are you in that ‘poor pitiful me’ place today? Perhaps you were yesterday or you will be tomorrow? It happens to the best of us and especially to those of us who tend to turn inward when we’re feeling down. It’s a bad habit to get into. Getting sullen, quiet, backing off from the world because we feel emotional and sad only makes our pity-party grow into a major life event. When we’re downcast and sad, even if we know it’s a situational or even hormonal thing that will soon pass, God doesn’t want us to turn our pain within. He wants us to share it with Him, pour it out and praise Him even in the midst of it. Because the ‘boo -hooing’ will pass and joy truly will come in the morning if we set our heart and mind on Him and His agenda.

If you're not resting, allowing yourself to mull over worry, fear and pain again and again and again....please read on. If you're in a dark place and you can't see anything hopeful right now, I encourage you to look at the past. Did you think you'd ever make it today? Many of us can say we're shocked we're still here. Many of us can see we've seen dark days and felt such sadness that we didn't think we'd ever find a happy moment again. Many of us can say that our hearts have ached over our own choices as well as how others have treated us. Many of us must look back and realistically say that the days behind us were not all dark, though. In fact, most of us can see a myriad of highs and lows behind us. That's life. That's reality. If you look at life as it is today, remember that it won't always be as it is right now. If you're having a difficult time, remember that happiness might be right around the corner and in fact, likely is! If you're at a high point and happy moments are your norm right now, then don't take them for granted because life DOES happen. You'll need to remember that when times get tough.

No matter what...hold on to the joy that wells up in your soul. Being happy is simply about what's happening in the moment. Being joyful is about knowing what's eternal! Being joyful is about allowing yourself to remember that joy and peace surpass all understanding. When you put that smile of hope on your face and others wonder how you can feel joy in the midst of a situation that should otherwise make your soul feel downcast, you have just shown them that you know how to truly live beyond your circumstances and love yourself enough to allow joy to be your resting place.

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Knowledge is...what???

My brother posted a comment on his Facebook once that said, "Knowledge is NOT power!" He stated this in the face of finding out some disturbing news about someone that he truly didn’t want to know. But his statement was very true. Too often in this power hungry, vanity-filled, idol-seeking world, we think that the more we know the more power we have. After all, if you know things about people, places and situations then you can control them and have power over them, right? Isn't that what Kings used to do? King Solomon certainly did way back in his day. Ecclesiastes 2 finds sad, old rich King Solomon lamenting over all the time he toiled his days away for nothing. He had much money, much power, much knowledge. In fact, he had many people at his disposal who also had much knowledge. But what did it get him? Nothing. All his so-called power, money and knowledge gained him nothing but folly. (foolishness).

Proverbs 24:5 tells us: A wise man is strong and a man of knowledge increases strength. Notice it doesn’t say that a strong man is wise. It doesn’t say that strength increases knowledge but rather that a wise man is strong and knowledge increases strength. We must seek after wisdom first and the discernment to know what knowledge we should attain.

Upon reading my brother's recent comment, this is what my response was:
Amen...knowledge is maddening, deafening, defeating, fleeting, easily obtained, easily bought, easily sold and definitely is NOT power...Wisdom is power!

Like Solomon, I too have spent many a day just toiling foolishly. But also like Solomon, praise God I learned that Wisdom is far greater than money, power or knowledge. For you can have all the knowledge in the world but if you do not have Wisdom to know what to do with it, when to retain it and how to discern what bits of knowledge are useful or vital, verses what bits are dangerous, deadly or untrue, then you actually render yourself completely powerless! The Father wants us to tap into the power of the Holy Spirit and that only comes through Wisdom.

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