Silence! Patience! I know some of you in the family are more patient than others. And, as you will attest, I’m not always the most patient in the family–though I have made great strides over the last couple of months. But silence in this family? Ha! That’s a good one! The Redekers are great talkers and we love to be with people. So, silence is a foreign concept in our household.

Finishing up with Psalm 37:7-8 and dealing with fretting, God calls His people to be silent. That means ‘to keep quiet.’ Everything that causes us to be anxious, to worry and to be angry–we are to hand it over to God. Once we do that then we are to be silent. God puts His finger over our lips and says, “Shhhhhh. Don’t worry about it anymore. I will take care of everything. Be patient. Be still. And trust Me.”

Patience can be hard for anyone to practice, regardless if the person is 100 years old or 2 years old. But as the saying goes patience is a virtue. When we hand our problems, troubles, frets, anger and worries over to God to handle, then what should we do as we patiently and silently wait? Pray! Pray through the problem or the concern. It doesn’t have to be a fancy prayer. And it doesn’t have to be a long prayer. When we get impatient, we can simply pray, “Lord, I know You’re in control.”

Verse 8 reminds us about anger. This might be anger toward God, and it might be anger toward another person. We are to refrain from anger. Anger, like fretting and needless worrying, doesn’t do us any good at all. In fact, it eats away at our insides and it makes us feel like we simply want to explode. But what good does that do us? No good at all! And it doesn’t make the situation any better. Does it? It only makes the person who is angry more miserable.

What does God want us to do? Refrain from it!! That means abandon anger, desert it, leave it in the lurch by releasing it. Don’t hang on to it, but again, let God deal with it. Trust God and pray for His guidance. When we hand everything over to God and let go of things, then a sense of peace comes upon us. We know that even though we are not in control, God is in control. We are then freed up to lead a life with God’s peace and security.

So, what did we learn from Psalm 37:3-10?

TRUST God. He replaces our insecurities with His faithfulness and security. Everything begins with trust: We should revere, love and trust in God above all things.

DELIGHT in the Lord. Wrap yourself up in Jesus. He softens the bumpy road and smooths out the rough spots in life so that it’s not so bumpy.

COMMIT to the Lord. Let Jesus roll your problems over to God. After all, the stone was rolled over the tomb where Jesus lay. But then 3 days later on Easter, He rolled the stone away.

BE STILL. Silence is golden before the Lord. Jesus was silent and patient with us as He hung on the cross on Good Friday.

REFRAIN. Abandon all our problems and worries over to Jesus. Release them and let Him handle them for us.

Prayer: Dear Lord; sometimes life can get real tough and hard to handle. Sometimes I get angry and it brews and festers inside of me. Forgive me for trying to handle everything on my own. You care for me and You want the best for me, including living a life free from anger worry, anxiousness and fretting. Help me to trust You more and hand everything over to Jesus to take of things for me. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen.

I love you guys! Dad