As we go into our eighth month of COVID measures, there are times when I catch myself with a lot of thoughts racing around in my mind. Those thoughts include frustration, disgust, impatience, skepticism, and fear. I found myself all tied up in knots a few days ago on our drive home from picking up a palomino pony (one of Lil Sweet Pea’s business endeavors). Clay Walker’s song “Live until I Die” came on the stereo. Clay sang what I was feeling: “I don't want to think about tomorrow. I don't need anything money can buy. I don't have to beg, steal, or borrow. I just want to live until I die.”
I just want to live. I just want my girls to be free to live. I want the freedom to go where I want to, live how I want to live; a quiet and peaceable life. I was lamenting the fact that so much has changed. As a believer, I have wrestled with my response to the measures of control that have been put on our great province, country and beyond. We’ve never been this way before. How do we navigate this season?
God is shaking everything. Every system and structure is being shaken including the church, ministries, beliefs and theology. A whole lot of shaking is going on in the seven mountains of influence: media, government, education, economy, family, religion, and the arts and entertainment. The wind of the Spirit is blowing and revealing what will remain. The chaff is being blown and sifted from the wheat. Matthew 3:12: ”His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” The Refiner’s fire is doing a work in our hearts, burning the dross and bringing forth the true gold in our lives.
In these uncertain times, we need to keep going back to the Word of God and listening to the Spirit of God. That is the only place we will get the answers we need to navigate the days ahead. I am reminded I do not need to be tied up in knots. God promises He will never leave us nor forsake us. He is our rod and our staff (in this case, they symbolize divine guidance and care). He is our strong tower. We can take refuge in Him, safe and lifted above the trouble around us. When we raise a hallelujah, fear will lose its hold on us.
God will not leave us comfortless. He is not abandoning us. He is asking us to lean in to His heart and hear what He is saying. Only days before the world was shut down, “The Blessing” was released. If you have never heard this song, please take the time to sit and listen to it (“The Blessing" by Cody Carnes, Kari Job, Stephen Furtick & Elevation Church).
God brought this song to the world for this season. It’s the heart of God over us. See it as God singing over you as you watch it. He is for you! He is with you in the morning, in the evening, in your coming and your going. He is for you! Amen. I declare The Blessing of the Lord is on you in this hour.
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
