/strive/ : Knowing and No-ing

Welcome back to another week of Making Waves! I’m so glad that you are joining us as we move into Part 2 of our new series: /strive/. For any of you who joined us last week, we discussed how the famous passage of Psalm 46 (be still and know that I am God) meant a much deeper meaning than just simple meditation. We talked about our striving in our lives. This week, we are talking about the next part of the phrase. If the first part is to “cease striving,” then what does it mean to “know that I am God?” Before we dive into the meaning of that and how it may rock our world, let’s dive into the Word. This week, we will be reading from the Gospel of Mark, once again from the NRSV.

“²⁹ As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. ³⁰ Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. ³¹ He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

³² That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. ³³ And the whole city was gathered around the door. ³⁴ And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

³⁵ In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. ³⁶ And Simon and his companions hunted for him. ³⁷ When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” ³⁸ He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” ³⁹ And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.”

-Mark 1:29-39

Will you pray with me? Dear God, I ask that the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts together glorify Your Presence. It’s in Your Holy Name that we pray, Amen.

For starters, folks, I just want to say how interesting it’s been this past week. Ever since I began to think of how we strive and reach for things in our lives, I can’t help but notice it everywhere. We can see it on the news each day as we enter into this political season. So many leaders out there are striving for acceptance and power in this country. Many out there are striving for answers to senseless deaths such as the nearly one hundred casualties in Nice, France this week. Some of us are just seeking for safety in our lives. We are terrified of the world, no matter how insignificant. One day this week I was pumping gas at the Sam’s Club and was talking on the phone to my lovely fiancée, Logan. I was filling her in on how my day had been and hearing about her day. Then, all of the sudden, one of the workers flagged down my attention and told me that there were some people who were refusing to pump their gas (or leave their car) until I hung up the phone. I obliged, because, hey, it’s just a phone call, but isn’t this how we are attuned nowadays? I’m sure that whoever had requested for this action had more than likely seen a Dr. Oz video clip or some kind of tragedy on the news fourteen years ago of a gas pump fire occurring from someone using their cell phone at the pump. I later found out that this concern had been disproven, and that the actual concern was the static electricity caused by the clothes and cloth of the car rubbing one another. So, I suppose the only solution is the pump gas without a phone and butt-naked. We are a terrified culture. We’ll insure everything from our favorite lamp to a potted plant, because “who knows what could happen?” We strive for certainty and safety and security.

Now, I’m not suggesting that insurance is by any means wrong. Nor am I suggesting that being up-to-date on the news is a bad thing. It’s perfectly normal to want safety and security. But it’s a dangerous slippery slope from there. There’s a point where our need for security turns into a lack of trust in God. The real danger is the point where we make it about trying to control of our lives instead of letting God be the one in charge. But we are scared and so we strive and reach out for security from the earthly means that are setting on top of shifting sands.

So, how can we let go? Sure, we’ve all read the bumper stickers and seen the Facebook posts that say, “Let Go and Let God,” but how can we actually do it? How can we know and trust in Him? Well, a good place to start is to look to the one who is our example: Jesus.

I think we can all agree that Jesus was a pretty busy guy. Over three short years, Jesus turned the world on its head. This was a time before CNN, Fox News, the radio or the Internet. Jesus managed to make Himself the number one trending topic in a huge area. He traveled long distances and spread His message to an entire race during His time. Not to mention He had a whole lot more to be afraid of than we do. Yet, like we read just a moment ago in the scripture from today, even at the height of Jesus’ career, He still took time to be with God. Jesus had to say no to people.

If the scripture shows us anything, it’s that, while Jesus may have spent a lot of time healing the sick and giving the blind sight, He spent just as much time (if not more) in prayer with God. It was from these conversations with God that Jesus was able to get the confidence and security to move forward.

Our first topic. then, is to be still and KNOW God. What does it mean to know God? By Jesus’ example, if we want to know God, then we have to trust God. How does trusting God happen? From an active relationship with Him… in prayer.

I have a mentor of mine who used to tell me that they once had trouble figuring out when to pray. She wanted to pray but genuinely couldn’t find an opportunity. She liked to close her eyes when she prayed, but the only free moment of the day that she had was in the car and before going to sleep. She told me that she felt guilty if she prayed before bed, because she would fall asleep and might not get to say “amen.” Not too long after that she came up to me and said that she had figured it out. She no longer felt guilty about falling asleep during prayer because she had a dream about falling asleep in God’s arms. From that dream on, she would pray herself to sleep and imagine that she was in her Daddy God’s arms. This has always been such a powerful sentiment of how intimate prayer is for us.

God gives us prayer as an opportunity to talk to Him and be with Him. We talked this past Wednesday at Bible Study about this idea of our relationship with God being a covenant and not a contract. Prayer is not the time stamp or worker’s report that we give God at the end of our shift of being a Christian for the day. Prayer is the talk that we get to have with a God who is genuinely interested in our lives and truly cares about each and every one of us.

But still, life can be tough. Like the woman I mentioned earlier, life can be so incredibly busy. Prayer is good and God is great, but life is here and happening now. Plus, it’s like you said, Pastor, God is always there for me, even after I finish watching this season of Orange Is The New Black. Right?

As important as it is for us to be still and KNOW, it’s also incredibly important for us to be still and say NO, as in N-O. We have to be willing to prioritize God and make sure that He is put first in our lives. Once again, take Jesus’ example, even though there are people out there in need of healing: family members of Jesus’ friends no less, and still He chooses to seek God first and often. It can help to look back on our decisions and ask ourselves, “What am I doing?” or “ Why am I doing this?” Often our God-related issues can lead us to people-centered conclusions, so it’s vital to think back on what we are doing and ask these questions to make sure that we are putting our best foot forward.

So what?  How can we stand strong against the temptation of our own natural leaning to strive? First, we can know God and trust Him by seeking Him in prayer. And then, we can say no to the World and put God first in our lives.

So, how can we know God? How can be still? Over the next four weeks, we are going to explore deeper into the Bible in order to know how to do exactly that. We are going to learn to stand against our natural inclination to strive, we are going to fight the noise, we are going to learn how to witness God’s power, and we are going to discover how to let go and let God change this world. Won’t you join us?

Please feel free to post any comments for discussion, I will try my best to respond. As always, if you have any private needs or prayers concerns, feel free to contact me personally at nathan@makingwaves.cc.