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marbella3 70F
2480 posts
8/24/2019 2:37 am

Last Read:
8/25/2019 4:14 am

You Have to Relax!

Bible in a Year :

Psalms 6–8; 1 Corinthians 7:1–19
Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.

Psalm 6.7

Psalm 6:1–9
“You must relax,” pronounces a doctor crisply in Disney’s Rescuers Down , attempting to treat the injured albatross Wilbur, a reluctant patient. “Relax? I am relaxed!” a clearly not relaxed Wilbur responds sarcastically as his panic grows. “If I were any more relaxed, I’d be dead!”

Can you relate? In light of the doctor’s dubious methods (such as a chainsaw dubbed an “epidermal tissue disruptor”), Wilbur’s misgivings seem justified. But the scene is funny because it captures how we tend to feel when we’re panicking—whether or not what we’re facing is actually life-threatening.

When we’re terrified, encouragement to relax can feel ridiculous. I know when I feel life’s terrors piling up around me, and when painful “cords of death” (Psalm 6:3) tighten my stomach into knots, my every instinct is to fight back, not to relax.

And yet . . . more often than not, my panicked attempts to fight back only tighten anxiety’s vice-grip, leaving crippled by fear. But when I, albeit reluctantly, allow myself to feel my pain and lift it up to God (v. 4), something surprising happens. The knot inside me relaxes a bit (v. 7), and a peace I can’t understand rushes through me.

And as the Spirit’s comforting presence surrounds me, I understand a bit more the truth the heart of the gospel: we fight best when we surrender into the powerful arms of God (1 Peter 5:6–7).

Reflect & Pray
What struggles do you think of as “cords of death” in your life? How could you grow in surrendering to God’s love and care in the hard times?

God, help us surrender our desperate attempts at control and let go of the burdens we weren’t meant to bear to find rest in Your grace and goodness.


MrsJoe 76F
17309 posts
8/24/2019 6:11 am

How well I know the truth of this, but so often I fight and struggle until I'm exhausted with anxiety........ and then, I surrender to the Lord. Maybe someday, I will learn to do that first.

Be a prism, spreading God's light and love, not a mirror reflecting the world's hatred.


GLUMO 88F
9730 posts
8/24/2019 5:44 pm

    Quoting MrsJoe:
    How well I know the truth of this, but so often I fight and struggle until I'm exhausted with anxiety........ and then, I surrender to the Lord. Maybe someday, I will learn to do that first.
It usually happens to most of us, even though we know our Lord is in charge...I remember when at the beginning of my painful health issue I got anxious waiting for a relieve...The anxious mood increased every day and I couldn't sleep well...Till one day I said: "Dear Lord, I cannot anymore!" I surrended to His arms and will, and days after I felt quite relaxed and could sleep well since then.
God is good!



Trust in dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.(Khalil Gibran)


marbella3 70F
64 posts
8/24/2019 6:27 pm

Amen