Our organization is in the midst of great change. Mission statement, vision statement, structure, and many of the operations are all changing now because of some untended issues of the past, and because we, and the world, are different than when we were founded 45 years ago.
We have leaned on Psalm 37 to help us with our “posture” as we enter into this time. To help us with our psyche, emotions, approach. Much of this Psalm is about evil men. We are not focusing on this. But we are focusing on the Psalmist who is anxious, angry, quite possibly frustrated and wanting change.
We are told to not “fret” twice, we are told to “trust in the Lord and do good”, “commit your way to the Lord: trust in him and he will do this”, where the “this” is to give us the “desires of our heart”. These words were encouraging to me as we are in the midst of this upheaval.
The challenging directive is in verse 7: “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.” The translation of “Be Still” is to be silent, to wait, to be dumb- that is not able to talk. And “wait patiently” is to dance, writhe, whirl about, made to bear or bring forth, writhe in pain. This doesn’t sound like patient to me!
So we are in effect to be silent and at the same time actively writhe about, and dance in anticipation of what God will do. The comfort for me in this is that waiting in silence makes me writhe about. To sit and wait is challenging and makes me squirm in my chair.
In this Psalm the outcome is assured, and we are given the directive in verse 4 to “delight in the Lord”, and promised that: “he will give you the desires of our heart”.
And we are told: “he will do this” in verse 5. And we are told to “trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture” in verse 3. God will act and accomplish his purposes, we are to trust in this and enjoy the journey and outcome.
In our impatient society today, and in our desire to “get ‘er done” we are told to slow down, engage physically with the living God and in so doing we will delight in him and receive a good outcome. So this is our posture and approach to this time of great change.
Barnabas Man 