Stop Fighting

For three days in a row, I woke up with these lyrics in my spirit. It was the song, God Will Work It Out by Maverick City Music. I pulled it up because I once heard that when you wake up with a song in your spirit, sing it as a declaration to the Lord. The first day I played it once. On the second day, I played the song twice. By the third day, I kept playing it repeatedly while I got ready for my day. What are you working out, God? I wondered.

My day got off to a great start. I was feeling fantastic. I started working on my tasks and was just chugging along. At one point, I slipped into a place of deep contemplation as I pondered potential plans. By mid-afternoon, I hit a wall. I seemed sudden. I could not figure out what it was, nor could I point to anything that happened. I just know I came to a whiplash-inducing halt.

I decided to take a break. That didn’t work.

I decided to pray. That didn’t work.

I decided to read my Bible. That didn’t work.

Finally, I went with it. Whatever this was, I was just going to go with it. I would not try to fight it. I was just going to lean into it. So, I did. Not that easy, though. I kept wondering what on earth was going on? All the while, I could hear a faint whisper. “God will work it out. God will work it. One thing I know. One thing I’ve found. God will work it out.”

The day progressed, and I had to get myself together for an evening commitment. As soon as I finished that commitment, I received a text from someone asking if I was available to meet that evening. Initially, I did not think I could, so I suggested another time, but something told me to make it work for the evening, so I texted back and said, “Let’s meet this evening.”

Our meeting was for one thing, but I soon realized God drew out another reason for it. An answer to a very specific prayer. Not only was it an answer to prayer, but God also a confirmation of what He told me the previous week. By the time the meeting ended, I realized how much lighter I felt. The blah from earlier in the day disappeared. I knew immediately that God had answered my prayer. I also knew that the wall I hit in the afternoon was because I needed to leave this problem alone because “God was working it out.” A burden that I did not know I had was lifted from my shoulders.

Here’s the thing though; it was hard for me to “be still.” Now, He hadn’t said those words exactly, but something nudged me to “just go with it” earlier in the day. Further along in the song are these lyrics,

Be still and know! Literally taken straight out of Psalm 46 verse 10!

Most days my preferred Bible translation is the Christian Standard Bible, which says,

Yo! Stop fighting!

Stop fighting.

I was fighting to push through and take care of my problem, yet God just wanted me to chill because He had already taken care of it. It was just a matter of time before I would see His solution. What’s scary is that I didn’t even realize that’s what I was doing. From my perspective, I wasn’t fighting. I was being responsible and attending to my business. How many times do we fight when all we need to do is “be still”? It’s difficult not to fight when that’s all you’ve known. Like Sofia from The Color Purple, some of us have had to fight all our lives. As a result, it’s hard for us not to fight. But God wants us to hand off our battles to Him. There are times He asks us to be still as He fights and other times, He gives us specific instruction on what to do.

My friend and I were chatting the other day about the many occasions we’ve wasted time fighting battles in places God wanted us to be still. In hindsight, it was not only a waste of time but a drain of precious energy resources.

Afterall, He is the one who makes wars stop!(Psalm 46:9)

Not us, He does!

Friend, where are you fighting battles that require you to be still?

Can we take this opportunity to pick up our Stop Fighting Memorial Stones?

Until next week …

Miracles + Blessings!

Brenda

Notes:

1. Maverick City Music (Ft. Israel Houghton, Mav City Gospel Choir & Naomi Raine) – God Will Work It Out. (2021). Genius. https://genius.com/Maverick-city-music-god-will-work-it-out-lyrics​