Kudzu Faith

STANDING STILL “Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you will be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” Ephesians 6:13 (NIV) Standing is hard. It means you’re not moving and if you’re a control freak like me, it means you’re not getting something to happen. It means—and I cannot stress enough how horrifying this is to a control freak—that someone else is in charge. I’ve never been good at just standing—or sitting. But sometimes, that’s all I can do. When I’ve voiced every request, when I’ve banged on the doors of Heaven and explained to God in excruciating detail what I want Him to do, all I can do is stand. Sometimes, that’s all any of us can do. Psalm 46:10 (NIV) says, “Be still and know that I am God.” Exodus 14:13 (NLT) says, “Moses answered the people, ‘Do not be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never been seen again.’” And II Chronicles 20:17 (NLT) says, “You will not have to fight this battle. Take your positions, then stand still and watch the Lord’s victory. He is with you, O people of Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid or discouraged. Go out against them tomorrow for the Lord is with you!” Struggling with standing still isn’t a new problem. Scripture is full of stories of those who didn’t wait, took matters into their own hands and really screwed up. So is my life. And so is yours. We live in a world where the motto seems to be, “if you want it done right, do it yourself.” But what happens when we can’t do it ourselves or we do it ourselves and it doesn’t help, or it gets worse? We’ve all trusted others to help us, only to have them let us down. It’s hard, in our humanness, not to expect God to do the same. But that’s not how God works. The verse from Exodus comes right before the Red Sea parts, the Israelites cross over, and the whole Egyptian army is drowned. The verse in II Chronicles comes right before the Lord defeats the enemies of Judah and Jerusalem without them lifting a finger. God answers. He moves. But sometimes He doesn’t move until we stop moving. He does, of course, call on us at times to move, to pray like it all depends on Him and work like it all depends on us. And in those times, we move, we work, we pray. But then there are those times when no amount of work seems to make a difference. Nothing in our strength changes the circumstances. We can’t part the sea; we can’t defeat the army. We have to stand still. It’s tempting at those times to succumb to anxiety and panic. We aren’t used to being still! It’ll all fall apart if we don’t keep moving! God reminds us, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways.” Isaiah 55:8 (NIV) His way of answering seldom looks the way we think it should. So often we forget that. Even while we’re trying to sit still, to stand, we’re trying to direct God’s answer. It doesn’t work. It doesn’t stop us from trying; it just doesn’t work. God promises He’ll answer our prayers because He loves us. But that’s not the only reason. He answers our prayers in His time—and in His way—to bring glory to His name. We control freaks forget sometimes, in our ever-failing attempts to run the world, that we are not God. Or even God-ish. We have to be reminded that we aren’t in charge. We have to stand still and know He is God. And sometimes we only get that message when the problems we’re facing are so out of control that we have no choice. So, stand still. Fight the anxiety and panic. And trust He is Who He says He is and He will do what He says He’ll do. The answer is coming. He will be glorified. And we will be reminded—again—that it’s okay to stand still and see the glory of the Lord.