“Do not keep silent, O God! Do not hold Your peace, and do not be still, O God!”   ~Psalm 83:1

Sometimes I call and I call to God, and I get nothing! My situation stays the same, no doors open and nothing changes. Why does He stand-down . . . why does He get silent?

Before we can answer this question we need to understand that we’re not seeing the whole picture here. We don’t know what’s really going on behind the scenes . . . but God does!

Sometimes He’s silent because there’s a lesson that needs to be learned, and more times than not it’s the lesson of patience. We need to learn to have patience in His timing and faith in His ways, and these come only by waiting and seeing. Patience is being able to see past our emotions—emotions which are usually wrong because they're based on nothing more than fear.

Strangely enough, it usually seems that when I need God the most is when He’s silent. These are the times when I find myself at a crossroad—stuck in a place where I either impatiently push forward, (my usual M.O.) or force myself to stop, stay still, and just wait, allowing God do it His way.

If you’re anything like me, letting go and waiting are the absolute hardest things to do. In order to let go of anything I must totally trust whomever I'm conceding to. I’m embarrassed to admit this, but honestly, I thought I totally trusted God. I really believed that I had developed both patience and faith . . . seems I was wrong.

I never thought I would be back in this place of fear ever again, but here I am, lost in fear, paralyzed in thoughts of failure and feelings of abandonment. This is the worst possible scenario for me, these situations where I have absolutely no control whatsoever!

I know God tells us He will never leave or abandon us . . . so, why all the panic, right? I’ll tell you why, because I’m listening to the liar again! I’m allowing Satan to infiltrate my heart through the portal of my biggest anxiety . . . control, or in this case, lack of control!

Letting go does not come naturally to most of us, but for me, it’s nearly impossible. However, the only way I will ever be able to answer the above question… is to finally let go! The simple truth of the matter is, God becomes silent when we turn from Him, not the other way around. When I try to bulldog through and force a situation I am no longer in tune with Him or with His will for me. I’m taking charge and in so doing I’m bumping Him from the entire equation!

“Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.”   ~Psalm 62:8

His primary will for me is to trust Him and allow Him to guide me. So, when I’m trying to take charge of something I’m literally doing the opposite of His will. I’m saying, by my forceful actions, that I know better than Almighty God. Force is the complete opposite of surrender, as fear is to faith.

How do I get back to that place of faith. . .?

The only way is to trust and obey. I must pour my heart out to God, then get still, listen and wait! However, when Satan has my head in a tailspin I’m unable to think clearly and these are times I need to re-surrender to God the most. Truth is, I’m not only unable to make good decisions when I’m in such a state of panic, I usually wind up making extremely counter productive choices that get me into an even bigger mess.

Just like a little child I inevitably opt for the, ”I can do it myself” line of thinking. And there it is—the devil’s whole plan, make us think we can do it all on our own—that God has turned His back on us and left us to figure everything out all by ourselves. When we listen to these lies we become entangled in Satan’s web of deception, we literally tie ourselves up in knots based on nothing more than fear and disillusion.

I’m so sick and tired of finding myself stuck in this same trap over and over again I could just scream! What on earth is wrong with me? Will I ever learn? The only helpful thought in these times is that I’m not alone.

This self-sufficient mentality is the plight of all of us, and anyone that denies this is simply not willing to look at the truth. It’s human nature. I call it the “I can do it by myself” complex that we’re all prone to. Not only prone to but virtually brainwashed into from the day we take our very first steps—the, you can do it all by yourself thinking that all of society encourages.

We need to run to God every time we catch ourselves trying to go it alone, that's the only solution. So here it is . . . the prayer I pray to have Jesus rescue me once again:

“Oh God, I’ve done it again, I’ve listened to that liar and got myself into another mess. Please, Jesus, rescue me! Fill my heart with hope and my mind with peace—peace in the knowledge that You never leave me and only want the best for me. Please help me to stop helping You. Please give me more faith and a desire to give control of my crazy life up to you once and for all! Amen.”

Q: Are you willing to accept that God knows best? (Please leave a comment below.)

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