Isaiah 51:16 NLT

And I have put my words in your mouth and hidden you safely in my hand. I stretched out the sky like a canopy and laid the foundations of the earth. I am the one who says to Israel, “You are my people!”

Discovering that I am in God and God is in me is an insight that can make such a difference to our life. Knowing it is one thing, but to let that truth influence our life choices, quite another.

By nature I am wired to fight. Flight is never my natural response, even when to fight is to surely risk destruction. I seem to be built for conflict with an inability to ‘pick my fights’ appropriately. This has tremendous benefits when advocating for justice. Not so much when seeking to build a healthy working environment. I’ve experienced the consequences of both.

A challenging piece of discipleship was to first recognise and then accept that the battle is completed. Jesus is the fulfilment of the Law (Matthew 5:17-20). The kingdom of God is established, if as yet we do not see its fullness. There is nothing I can do to add to Jesus’ achievement. I am invited to rest in God’s shadow and meditate upon God’s word continuously. God requires I simply ‘behold’ him. In our overactive age this seems a dereliction of Christian mission, yet it is the mission. For what have we to communicate and demonstrate if we have failed to realise that everything pales into insignificance before our God?

If I suppress my sadness by ignoring it or diverting my attention with some worthy activity, I will merely avoid it. God says sit with it yet, in “the shelter of the Most High” (Psalm 91:1) and discover that in God alone “we live and move and exist” (Acts 17:28).

QUESTION: How can you allow God in to minister to you when you battle with sadness?

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, help me to trust in your finished work and to place my hope in your restoring of all things.