And as your days are, so will your strength, your rest and security be.—Deuteronomy 33:25, AMP
Have you ever had one of those days when you get up and consider your to-do list, and then you wonder how you’re ever even going to make it through your devotions? I have!
I thought that when I was no longer raising small children, I would be in charge of my calendar. I must have been confused! Although these days, I might be considered “retired,” that’s just a category. Retirement means schedules, time lines, flight times—you know the drill! And I’m sure you often wonder, How will I get this all accomplished today?
When I was a young mother, I remember my mom telling me, “He giveth strength for the day.” I didn’t really appreciate what she was saying. In fact, I just plowed through the tasks ahead of me for that day and fell into bed at night exhausted. Everything had been done. Yet I didn’t realize back then that the Lord was interested in even a frustrated mom with young children.
I am thankful for God’s faithfulness and His patience with my slow learning curve. Now I know that whatever the day ahead looks like, He already has it managed for me—if I will keep my hands to myself. He tells me, “Be still and know (recognize, understand) that I am God” (Psalm 46:10, AMP). It’s difficult—yea, hard—for someone who likes control to allow God to take charge! Through my study, I have learned that it’s not enough to be still—I need to stop! Yet who stops when the day’s list is staring them in the face? However, I’m learning that unless I stop, I won’t see, hear, and feel God’s plan for me.
Those days when I feel overwhelmed and stressed and exhausted at the start of the day, I’m so thankful for a God Who makes promises like this: “The eternal God is your refuge, and his everlasting arms are under you” (Deuteronomy 33:27, NLT).
It’s so much easier to handle whatever happens when you stop to remember that God’s got it! At the end of the day, I find that I’m pleasantly tired but no longer exhausted. I can feel where God’s arms have held me and carried me throughout my day.
O what a marvelous God I have!
Wilma Kirk Lee
First published in Carolyn Rathbun Sutton, ed., In His Presence (Silver Spring, MD: General Conference Women’s Ministries Department, 2018), 338.
