Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
What are you hoping for today? Allow the thoughts to infiltrate your mind of what you're hoping for today. Now, across surveys and psychological research, the average person and their hopes are often tied to stability, connection, and the belief that things can get better.
When Things Don't Seem Better
Have you had times where you thought that things just wouldn’t get better? Some of you listening to this right now may be in that place right now, where you just don't see the light at the end of the tunnel. You just can't see how it's going to get better.
That's just an extremely difficult place to be, and I'm so sorry.
No matter if you're there right now or not, our Verse of the Day is so impactful for us to understand how it should relate to our everyday life. It's Psalm chapter 62, verse 5. "Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in Him."
A Closely Mirrored Verse
Now it's also clear, closely mirrored in verse 1 of the same Psalm, where it says, "For God alone my soul waits in silence. From Him comes my salvation."
Catch that again: "For God alone, my soul waits in silence."
When We Place Hope in Other Things
There's so many times when we're waiting for things to happen or not feeling like we have hope because we don't have stability or connection or feel like things are going to get better, so we allow those things to impact our hope.
I think we've all been there at some point. But we can also at the same time place an expectation on other people to produce hope in us that only God can do. That's what's so powerful behind this verse: "For God alone, my soul waits in silence."
In our Verse of the Day: "Let all that I am wait quietly before God."
The Challenge of Waiting Quietly
Why is that so important? One: I don't know about you, but I have a hard time waiting quietly. It's usually looking at the watch of life. It may not be a physical watch, but it's the watch of life and saying, who do I need to talk to to get this thing moving? Let's go. Let's figure this out. What's it going to take? Sometimes that's how we communicate with God: Lord, this isn't moving fast enough. We need this to be done so that my hope can return.
Where True Stability Comes From
If we look at what the average person hopes for—stability and also connection and the belief that things will get better—all of those things, if we think about it: stability.
There is, quite frankly, nothing that can bring me stability outside of God. Everything I can think of can falter. If I place all of my stability in a person, something could happen to them. They could leave my life at some point. If I place my stability or hope and connection in my job or my community or something else, those dynamics can change.
What Will Not Change
One thing that will not change, and that's the beauty of this verse, is allowing ourselves to sit quietly in the presence of God. When we do that, what we're communicating is, You are the most important thing to me.
A Personal Moment with God
Before even preparing to share this with you, I felt that God impressed on me the other day to do something. Every morning I have a routine. I sit in my chair, I have a quiet time, do some reading, do some praying. That morning I felt very strongly to just go outside with my cup of coffee and sit in God's presence.
The amazing thing that God impressed on me in that moment was actually: You have friends that every time you get together, you talk. A really close friend is a kind of friend that you can actually sit in their presence and not talk.
The Intimacy of Silent Presence
For most people, that's really awkward. But when you have the close relationship, it's not where you feel like that conversation or that interaction is something where you must do that to sustain your relationship.
God gave me this precious moment with Him where it wasn't this interaction—it was just this intimate, powerful moment. Then reflecting on this verse lived out, I wasn't even trying to do that as much as it was God's prompting to say, I want to have this intimacy with you.
It's Not About the Routine
It doesn't have to be about the thing or the stuff or the routine. It's just about being in His presence and allowing Him to just be there and the peace and calm to know that He is just there.
I just ask you to try that today. Don't have it be about the stuff. Don't have it be about a conversation or this pressure. Take some time and just sit in silence in His presence and enjoy what He has for you today.
