Day 2112 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Psalm 91:1 NIV

I love when I wake up with a very specific verse already in my mind. It's like God's trying to help me get focused on something good before the day even begins. Today this verse from Psalm 91 was one of the very first things that I thought of, so I reckon I should share it with you all too! Don't know, just that thought of rest and peace sounds like something all of us are looking for these days.

We've been talking a bit about following God and living a life of faith in Him. We've talked about trusting even when we don't see a way through the mess we're in. We've talked about not worrying about what we see or understand as much as staying focused on His will and the hope that it brings. We've talked about letting go of this false sense of control that all of us have.

What I think we'll find is that the more we learn to let go of trying to figure things out and stay in control, the more peace we have. The more we place our hope and trust in God, the more rest we can find in our souls. How often do we run ourselves crazy trying to stay caught up and in control? How many times do we wear ourselves out trying to understand everything that's happening around us?

I get that seeing is believing, and the more we feel like we're in control the more at ease we feel. But friends, a life of faith has nothing to do with us being in control or being able to see what lies ahead. Faith is about trusting in a God that is far bigger, far stronger, far more powerful, and truly able to control things. It's about leaving this idea of ourselves behind and following Him blindly into the unknown.

But if we can live our lives trusting in God every single moment, then we're going to find peace. It seems weird to think that we can find peace by letting go and simply leaning on hope but it's true. As this verse is telling us, if we live for God according to His plans and will for our lives, then we will find rest. Rest from worrying about what will happen. Rest from trying to understand everything. Rest from holding grudges or feeling the need to stand in judgement. Rest from thinking we're in control when we're definitely not.

The world tells us that peace and rest come from so many different places and things. But in truth, peace and rest only come when our hope, our trust, our everything is given over to God. The more we let go and let Him take over, the less we have to worry about. Putting everything in the hands of a faithful Father that truly loves us is hands-down one of the most peaceful things we can do.

We don't have to wear ourselves out trying to figure out life and stay on top of everything in it. We can simply let go and trust that God's got this. After all, He always has and always will. That's an incredibly peaceful promise, and one that brings about the kind of hopeful rest that we're all looking for!