Have you ever had a season, or even a day, in your life where you have been overcome by the fog of emotions?  I know I certainly have.  In fact, I’m going through such a season right now.  In the past 18 months, I have lost three family members to death.  It’s been rough, but God is so good to place things in my path to redirect my thought processes and comfort me.  

In the reading plan I’m doing right now with a friend, Psalm 4 was among the chapters we were to read this morning.  Verse 5 really grabbed me. 

“Offer the sacrifices of righteousness,
And put your trust in the LORD.” 

As I dissected this verse I noticed how it encompasses the total person – the outward and the inward. “Offer sacrifices of righteousness” — do the next right thing (outward), and “put your trust in the Lord“.  The Hebrew word for trust (bāṭaḥ) means to hie for refuge. Wasn’t exactly sure what “hie” meant so I looked it up – haha. To “hie” means to cause oneself to go quickly. If we have to cause ourselves to do something, it isn’t a thing that comes naturally to us. We have to MAKE it so. We have to MAKE ourselves turn to GOD for refuge — not to food, not to a drink, not to another person, not to tv to take our minds off things — but to GOD.  When things that are overwhelming to us hit like a tidal wave, we must MAKE our hearts and our thoughts turn to the Lord (inward).

Here’s an excerpt from the devotional:  “No matter what is happening around us, we have access to all the freedom and security of a kid tucked snuggly into bed. We don’t have to wait to see if the treatment works. We can cry out, “Abba, Father!” in the exam room, and in His presence, we find freedom from fear. We don’t have to wait to see if the job comes through. We can cry out, “Abba, Father!” and in His presence, release our worries about what comes next.”

This was so impactful to me this morning. There are so many times that, if I would cry out “Abba, Father!” instead of becoming encased in the fog of my own emotion, I would be freed from what is bothering me. Although I am progressing, there is still a window of time where I feel like I’m drowning in certain situations. My prayer this morning is that the time span between fear and faith would become shorter and shorter.  Can anyone relate??

*https://my.bible.com/reading-plans/20869-letters-of-paul-30-day-reading-plan