Beside The Well
There’s a commercial on English television that references a poem by Rudyard Kipling. It begins, “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs…You’ll be a Man my son!” The idea of keeping your head means to stay calm in the face of difficulty and to maintain your composure.
In a world full of fear and uncertainty, it is becoming increasingly difficult to remain unruffled and self-controlled. The news is depressing and tends to heighten our anxiety. Opinions are flying about without discretion oblivious to the consequences. Our history is being re-written to appease the persuasion of the few and it seems good men have stuck their heads in the sand.
I was reading the response of one young woman, fully educated and self-sufficient, who was so moved by the world around her that she could find no resting place for her heart and mind. She was beginning to even fear her commute to work for the chaos around her and she lives in a “safe” country.
I sat listening to missionaries working in difficult, unsafe circumstances and saw the concern in their eyes, as they knew they would soon be returning to the field.
Then, I stopped and considered a few things. Wars and times of unrest are written on every page of history. Today’s news is purposely miserable because that sells more papers. Loudmouthed people have always been among us trying to force their will on the masses. There have been worse times in history than today, and there will probably be awful times yet to come. So what are we to do? Hide behind our doors? Become nervous wrecks? Lose our heads?
I had to rope in my emotions and take a deep breath. Finally, I came to the assurance that fear is not the answer. We have a promise of quiet rest amid the storms of politics, wars, and earthly situations.
John 16:33 “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” I John 4:4 “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.”
We need to keep our head; not in the sand, but in the Man! I love the way L.B. Cowman puts it in Streams in the Desert, “You can trust the Man that died for you.”
Psalm 3:3 “But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.”
In a world full of fear and uncertainty, it is becoming increasingly difficult to remain unruffled and self-controlled. The news is depressing and tends to heighten our anxiety. Opinions are flying about without discretion oblivious to the consequences. Our history is being re-written to appease the persuasion of the few and it seems good men have stuck their heads in the sand.
I was reading the response of one young woman, fully educated and self-sufficient, who was so moved by the world around her that she could find no resting place for her heart and mind. She was beginning to even fear her commute to work for the chaos around her and she lives in a “safe” country.
I sat listening to missionaries working in difficult, unsafe circumstances and saw the concern in their eyes, as they knew they would soon be returning to the field.
Then, I stopped and considered a few things. Wars and times of unrest are written on every page of history. Today’s news is purposely miserable because that sells more papers. Loudmouthed people have always been among us trying to force their will on the masses. There have been worse times in history than today, and there will probably be awful times yet to come. So what are we to do? Hide behind our doors? Become nervous wrecks? Lose our heads?
I had to rope in my emotions and take a deep breath. Finally, I came to the assurance that fear is not the answer. We have a promise of quiet rest amid the storms of politics, wars, and earthly situations.
John 16:33 “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” I John 4:4 “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.”
We need to keep our head; not in the sand, but in the Man! I love the way L.B. Cowman puts it in Streams in the Desert, “You can trust the Man that died for you.”
Psalm 3:3 “But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.”
Gail Gritts
Beside the Well
rggritts@gmail.com
rggritts@gmail.com
ggritts.blogspot.com
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