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If you have ever felt restless in your spirit, this message is for you. Perhaps you sense spiritually that something is just wrong or off, but you are not yet sure what it is. There is a strange lack of peace, perhaps combined with an increasing sense of internal panic and anxiety. "Where are all of these feelings coming from?" you might wonder. Well, I have been there myself too many times to count, and I want to proclaim to you the truth of God’s Word that has repeatedly led me to freedom when this internal quandary develops. May God speak freedom, life, joy, and peace into our hearts through His enduring and perfect Word.

A verse that is often misquoted and misapplied is Psalm 46:10. We hear "Be still, and know that I am God" and think that God just wants us to tune out, calm down of our own accord, or be silent. Others imply some mind-numbing mystical experience which is not at all what God wants in this passage or anywhere in Scripture. These are fleshly, man-made, or pagan ways to find peace and rejuvenate. True solace is not an earthly quantum, but it is a spiritual experience driven by faith in the Word of God which draws us into the arms of God. It is not a mystical out-of-body vision, but it is a ministry of the Holy Spirit, God in our hearts, speaking comfort to us. What God is really getting at in Psalm 46:10 is better received and understood when it is more accurately translated "Cease striving, and know that I am God." Striving implies a feverish toiling on our own power to fix a problem or situation. Panic and anxiety enter into our being when we realize that our efforts are like running faster and faster on a treadmill. The belt can go around that machine at whatever speed we run, and we get nowhere fast. Solving problems by our own intellectual acumen, willpower, and skill never works. Let me repeat, never. God hates pride, but He gives grace to the humble. The humble are the ones which bow the knee to God (1 Peter 5:5), cast their cares upon Him (1 Peter 5:7), and trust Him with the result. We are to pray because prayer is an acknowledgement that it is God Who must fix our situation rather than we ourselves. Perhaps He might choose to fix it in and through us as we act as instruments of His working, but there is a landmark difference in letting God work in and through us as He desires versus problem solving our own way and on our own power. When we feel this internal striving and fumbling around, we need to pause and simply stop. The Spirit’s exhortation to us is "Cease!"

We need to stop the fussing and the pride trip and just let God speak and lead. Not letting the Spirit lead in our hearts creates friction and takes more energy and effort on our parts because we have to resist God. We are not to resist the Spirit (Acts 7:51), grieve the Spirit (Ephesians 4:30), or quench the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19). We must yield to the Spirit by letting Him lead (Romans 8:14). This is a willful act of obedience whereby we let God take our burdens, our stress, and our pain. We must call to Him in earnest telling Him that we need help, that we are out of ideas, that we need guidance, and that we need a provision. He knows even before we ask what we need. Sadly, too often He knows that we need to learn the lesson of our inability before we can be reminded of His ability. The whole of Psalm 46:10 says, "Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." When we act in our own power, our success would be our own exaltation and boast, rather than God’s. He will have none of that. But we can take heart that He gently calls to us with comfort, longing to take on our cares and burdens, and looking and waiting for us to exalt the only One Who deserves to be exalted.

The fact of the matter is that there is only one way to have strength renewed. Isaiah 40:31 says, "Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary." The way to be truly rejuvenated, refreshed, reenergized, and restrengthened is to wait upon God. As we cease striving on our own accord and direction, we can then come to rest in God. This is a process of waiting upon God. This waiting does not mean just sitting idly by passing the time, but it is from the Hebrew word "Qavah," meaning to "wait, hope, look for, or expect." Waiting on God is an active, exciting, dramatic, and hopeful faith experience. Just as we eagerly await the return of Christ when we can finally escape this body of death and be with Jesus, we are eagerly to long for, look for, and hope for His deliverance and ministry in this life. Wherever we are, God is there to comfort. We don’t know what form His deliverance or provision will take, but that is not the issue as far as our joy, peace, and sustenance is concerned. The issue is the state of our hearts. It is those who choose by faith to wait upon God, longing, hoping, and expecting, who will run and not grow tired and walk and not become weary. Sometimes the pace of life is a stroll in the park; at other times it is a sprint. But it is not the circumstances which dictate strength; rather, it is the heart of the person within the circumstances. When we have hope in our hearts, strength is quick behind it, leading to the joy and peace we know that God provides.

Want to mount up with wings like eagles and feel what it is to spiritually fly with joy and peace and strength from God? Cease striving in your own strength, cast your cares upon God, and hopefully and expectantly wait upon Him. He will renew your strength.

"'Winging It" from Stan Smith

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