How many of us have ever been in some kind of situation that made us just want to scream? I know I have; But really, what is it that makes us so jumpy, so on edge? Maybe it’s our tendency to want to control everything.
Really, when you think about it we would have been a lot better of if God had just made us robots with no freedom of choice, and no personal creativity, but He didn’t. So there comes a problem that we as Christians all face. We all “freak out” when our “control” over circumstances is threatened.
It’s true! Think about it, I can’t begin to tell you how many times, in my own life, when God stepped in and said “ok I’ll take that, you have had it way too long” or “this is how I want you to do it” or even just plain and simple “no” that I started running around (mentally) like a chicken with my head cut off because my “control” was threatened, I “freaked out”.
I absolutely love the quote from a certain movie that I like where the heroine says to the hero “don’t freak out!” because I feel that that’s exactly what God is saying to us! Psalm 46: 10 says “He (God) says, Be still (Don’t freak out!), and know that I am God…” and I must say that God has really been challenging me with this verse over the last couple of weeks.
I was sitting down thinking the other day (a dangerous occupation) and it occurred to me quite humorously: The animal God chose to relate us to as Christians was sheep, SHEEP!? I don’t know about you, but when I heard this I wanted to say (freaked out) “Come on God, a sheep? Really?”. Friends, the fact of the matter is, sheep are stupid and easily freakoutable. I wanted to say: “God, about this whole sheep thing, I personally would love to be an eagle or a wild mustang”. But I didn’t, in all my wisdom and knowledge, I decided to give God the benefit of the doubt; after all, He does know everything. Then it hit me, what’s really amusing about this sheep comparison is that we even make bad sheep!
When a sheep gets to know its master, and learns to hear His voice and recognize, it comes when called. But in keeping with our analogy from earlier, when I (one of God’s sheep) hear His call I tend to want to run the other direction.
I’m so glad that God gave us examples to look at and apply to our own lives especially in those twelve men that were closest to Him. When you think about it Jesus’ disciples were masters at the art of freaking out. Look at Mark 4:35-39 “…when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” Isn’t this great?! I love it! I can just here Jesus waking up and saying to those guys “Could you please stop yelling?! And Peter stop hiding in that barrel we’re not going to die!” (That was a paraphrase). Now we come to my favorite part in verse 39 “And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.” I have a sneaking suspicion that Jesus was not just talking to the wind and waves here. I know what I would say if I woke up to my friends yelling and screaming at me, and the wind was blowing, and huge waves crashing. I would say exactly what Jesus said: “Peace! (stop freaking out) Be still!
Another place we find this example of being full of peace in God is Psalm 37: 7-8 “Be still (peace) before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret (don’t freak out)—it leads only to evil.” In this passage it is a little different. Here we see that “freaking out” can actually damage our relationship with God (“…it leads only to evil.”)!
Friends, the Bible says “do not fear, worry, fret (don’t freak out)” over a hundred times, almost as many times as the word grace is mentioned! So why is this so important? Why is it so damaging to us to worry? The answer is simple; Freaking out causes us to focus on our self, to take our eyes off of Christ, and ultimately, (if not dealt with) causes us to try and take the control of our life back from Jesus!
So how than, if we have a problem of “freaking out”, do we deal with it? The prophet Jeremiah says “But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” The answer: We simply trust Him. Remember the Lord and who He is, be still and trust that whatever the issue is, He is bigger! Also memorize Psalm 25: 4-5 and let that be your comfort whenever you are tempted to “freak out”.
“Show me your ways, LORD, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.”– Psalm 25: 4-5–
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