Ponder Anew.

Have you ever been out driving during a blizzard?

If you have, you probably don’t recall it being a pleasant experience.

Some people call it a white out, because you can see nothing but a million little snowflakes crowding around you, battering your windshield and blocking your vision.

It can take all your attention just to stay between the lines and arrive at your destination in one piece.

What is easy in the calm becomes demanding in the storm.

And sometimes its not wise to keep speeding ahead in a blizzard.

Sometimes its safer to pull off and slow down.

Psalm 46:10 is a heavily quoted verse, but for good reason.
It says the following-

“Be still. And know that I am God.”

Have you ever stopped and considered that God actually commands you to be still?
And not just to sit down on your couch and day dream about your next big vacation, but to simply be still and dwell on his divinity?

Can I ask you a question that might hurt?

Have you been doing this lately?

We all have blizzard seasons in our life… times when our thoughts or peoples expectations or work schedules or family pressures crowd around us so oppressively that we can’t focus on anything else.

And even if we aren’t in a specifically chaotic time, we live in an age of virtual reality, feeding us instant messaging, two day shipping, unlimited hours of entertainment and constant demands on our time, relationships, energy and money.

With all this extra noise, it can be difficult to determine what is actually valuable and worthy of our attention.

And with so much distraction, we can miss what is true.

You can drive right past the road that leads you home when you’re stuck in a blizzard that’s crowding your view.

“Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” is one of my favorite hymns.
In it there is a line that says this,

“Ponder anew what the Almighty can do.”

I’m ashamed to say that as someone who has grown up in a Christian home and among Christian circles, I get used to the gospel.

I get used to hearing about and believing, almost robotically,
that God loves me.

That he has a plan and a purpose for me.

That he is preparing a place for me.

Yet what glorious truth.

And oh how desperately we need to remind ourselves of it.

How desperately we need to dwell on the character of God in the midst of a world that’s trying to distract us from Him.

Like Peter who went from walking on the water to sinking beneath it’s waves as soon as he took his eyes off Jesus and fixed them on the storm, how quickly we fall when we fail to look to Christ.

Ponder anew what the Almighty can do.

Not what you can do. Now what others can do for you.

But what God- the infinite, compassionate, preeminent Creator and King can do above and beyond what you can even ask or imagine. (Ephesians 3:20)

Life is stormy. The world is getting stormier. And Satan is trying to prevent you from seeking Christ.

Don’t let him.

Pull off and take a rest. Tune out all the other distractions.

Be still.

And know that He is God.

“Let the one who is wise heed these things and ponder the loving deeds of the LORD.”
-Psalm 107:43