The Enemy Taunts All Day but God is Our Support

When life is a jumble of chaos, what sustains your energy to press forward or inward? When stresses are at the height of uncertainty and your emotions are at the brink of breakdown, what keeps your reaction God-honoring? What wind do you fill your sails of life with so that you maintain your course and withstand the storms with victory?

My husband and I watched a great movie last night, Seven Days in Utopia. Landing in the small town of Utopia after blowing his pro golf debut, Luke finds himself in the schoolroom of an old rancher who teaches him success from God’s view instead of his own fleeting talent.  

Talents, personal gifts, and achievements are temporary if accomplished through one’s own strength and power. Yet, if the following truths given by the old rancher in this movie are heeded, we find that our soul reaches higher feats than we may have originally thought to pursue. The old rancher teaches that there are four practices needed in order to reach success: 

• Convictions
• Rhythm  
• Balance
• Patience   

Convictions answer the why behind what we do. Rhythm keeps us in step with the Holy Spirit so we can work, rest and rejuvenate our soul. Balance allows God’s power to give us inner success even when we experience defeat. Patience gives us reason to ponder, plan, and push at the appropriate times.These four practices produce emotional control; they allow us to take life as it comes, and they keep us calm when we win and lose. 

I like the definition of SFT that the old rancher tells Luke. He says that Luke will find success in all things when he...

“Sees God’s face; Feels His presence, and Trusts His love.”

Life is filled with anxious uncertainty. We worry as we borrow time from today to solve tomorrow’s problems. When we do this, we end up losing the energy to solve our present challenges. We live in fear of tomorrow’s failures giving us no time to celebrate today's achievements. But life can be different for us. If we make a conscience effort to see God’s face above life’s challenges; if we take time to be still and feel His presence we can then appreciate the gift of today; if we trust His love expecting His promises to be true in our life, we can find peace instead of tension.

With conviction, I know “we can trust that God will reach down from on high and take hold of us and draw us out of the deep waters of anxious fear; we can be assured that God will rescue us from the powerful enemy of uncertainty that seems so strong to us; the enemy may taunt us all day, BUT THE LORD IS OUR SUPPORT! He will bring us into a spacious place where we are rescued. And why does God do all this for us? For one reason only: He delights in you and me!” (Psalm 18:16-18 adapted).   

Trusting in the fleeting winds of this world only leads to sails that are tattered and torn, but trusting in the winds of God’s power leads to accomplishments of sustaining value: we find faith, relationships, character and love. These are the winds in my sails and they sustain my journey; they keep my soul steady and strong.  My body is sure to follow if my soul leads with God’s power.