Therapy for a Noisy Mind

Read: Psalm 37

He looked like a normal healthy tall young man who exercises alongside me and others in the gym. When I asked him about his job, he replied that he did not have a full time job. He has a part-time job and he has disability status. One problem for him was that his mind became filled with conflicting voices. He suffered from a noisy mind.

I was reminded of this person after recently experiencing a “dry” period in my relationship with God. After following my daily pattern of Bible study, meditation and journaling, I missed hearing a specific word or insight from the Lord. As I reflected on this, God impressed on me that my mind was becoming too “noisy”. I was so busy doing work in God’s name that I failed to practice the discipline of stillness – waiting sufficiently on God to receive what He has for me at any given time.

Pastors, Christian leaders, and many Christians in all churches sometimes have a difficult time in sleeping because their minds are racing and noisy. When I experience this problem, I like to read precious sections of God’s word such as Psalm 37. Please take time to read all of it in a prayerful, willing spirit. This Psalm especially speaks to me of God who comes alongside in a warm intimate way to those who intentionally seek to wait on Him. In this Psalm, King David expressed symptoms of a noisy mind – distracted and filled with thoughts of urgency, worry, and frustration. He was deeply disturbed by the lives and actions of sinful arrogant people.

Moved by the Holy Spirit of God, David realized the appropriate therapy for his noisy distracted mind. This therapy is intended by God for us as well:

• Trust in the Lord as you seek to daily do His will (Psalm 37:3, 5-6).
• Delight in the Lord. Praise Him. Rejoice – reflect on His glorious heart and nature. “Take delight in the Lord and He will give you your heart’s desires.” (v.4, NLT)
• Be still and make time to actively wait before God. Review promises in this Psalm; keep seeking Him and His will for you at this time. Recall that He is always in control as the eternal God who cares deeply for you.

“Be still in the presence of the Lord

and wait patiently for Him to act…

The steps of the godly are directed by the Lord.

He delights in EVERY DETAIL of their lives.” (Psalm 37:7a, 23, NLT)

• Wait and go at the same time. There is a time to wait and be still in one geographical place. But, there are other times that you need to get moving and act in obedience to God (see God’s response to Joshua in Joshua 7:10). As the old song says “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus.” As you act in response to what God reveals to you, He will help your mind to arise in Him and dispel those unhealthy noises.

“Don’t be impatient for the Lord to act!

Travel steadily along His path.

He will honor you, giving you the land.” (Psalm 37:34a)

Discovering Your Orginal Purpose

Read: Philippians 2:12-16

The situation is urgent. The health of the patient is very important. The doctor and his assistants are working diligently as they strain to see the necessary details of the operation under the flickering candle light. It is not easy. Surely, there has to be a better way to operate in such critical conditions. Bridges for Peace recently reported on a unique solution.

To the rescue comes “A Jewish Heart for Africa”. This non-government agency was founded by a young Jewish woman, Sivan Achor-Borowich to help provide light for African medical clinics. Raising money in the United States and using Israeli technology, her organization has assembled solar panels in Africa, using the power of the sun during the long African days. Now, solar panels light up the clinic and also provide light outside the clinic so patients can now arrive at night. The solar panels also power refrigerators to store and preserve the medicines.

This provision of physical light from Israel is a reminder of God’s intention for Jerusalem and Israel – to be a light to the nations for God.

Arise, shine, for your light has come,

and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.

…Nations will come to your light

and kings to the brightness of your dawn. (Isaiah 60:1, 3)

In this new millennium, God has enabled His original chosen nation to develop an amazing array of inventions that will have far reaching effects on the health and needs of people all over the world. It is another reminder that God first created the Jews out of Abraham and his descendants to actually be a channel of his blessing and life giving light to the world.

But, God has also reached out in amazing grace through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ to us. To those of us who have heeded His call and received Jesus as Savior, He has given the role of “light givers”! Like the physical help of light to those in Africa, so we ought to constantly provide the light of Jesus Christ to those who stumble around in spiritual darkness. They, too, need to find their way to Jesus. Many of them live next door to you and me.

Do you see how God is working around you? Are you beginning to adjust your attitude and life so that you can allow God to work through you? Even though it is God’s work to change the heart of a person, you are called to live out the light of Christ in you! This is God’s purpose for you. What a privilege! What a joy to live according to your God-given purpose!

…It is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good

purpose. Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you

may be blameless and pure, children of God in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine as stars in the universe as you hold out

the word of life. (Philippians 2:13-16a)

A Dolphin Knows Best!

Read Joshua 23:6-11

16 year-old Brandon Banks and the rest of the residents of the Newfoundland village of Seal Cove had gone to bed with the wailing sounds of 5 dolphins in the ice of the harbor. The village is about 4 hours drive from the town of my birth. The dolphins found themselves trapped in a restricted inlet and they were swimming around in a small open area that getting smaller and smaller as the ice closed in. The story was reported on February 19/09 in the Globe & Mail newspaper.

Dolphins are among God’s most amazing and intelligent creatures. I know that from my own experience with them in the North Atlantic. Eventually, Brandon and his friends decided that they would attempt a rescue with the use of a local small boat with an outboard motor. By this time only three dolphins remained. But, the goal was to break up enough ice so that the dolphins could swim free. Finally, two of the dolphins followed the boat and then headed to freedom in the open sea.

But, one dolphin seemed too tired or weak to join the others. Brandon jumped into the icy water (in a “red dry suit”) and tried to keep the 180 kilogram dolphin above water using his legs. What happened next is amazing! Seal cove Mayor Winston May told Canadian Press that “the dolphin just kind of attached to (Brandon) and wrapped his flippers around him, more or less like a friend or mate!” Brandon attached a rope around the dolphin and then to the boat. Once they slowly reached the point of open sea, the dolphin was released and swam away to freedom!

What an illustration of Biblical truth! Destructive influences – false “gods”, popular beliefs, twisted use of the internet and bad video games – all can close in on us like winter ice. Slowly but surely, various forms of sin can choke us off from the true freedom that is experienced only in unhindered fellowship with God. Heed the advice given to the people of Israel before the first advent of Jesus. They were encouraged to feed on the Word of God, to walk daily in God’s way and to resist the evil nations around them. Then, Joshua counseled the people and their leaders:

But you are to HOLD FAST to the Lord your God, as you have

until now. The Lord has driven out before you great and powerful

nations; to this day no one has been able to withstand you. One of

you (defeats) a thousand, because the Lord your God fights for you,

just as he promised. So be careful to love the Lord your God. (23:8-11, NIV)

As the dolphin held onto Brandon with his flippers, hold fast to God so that you can “swim” daily in real freedom and joy in the “open waters” of God’s Kingdom. You can do whatever God calls you to do and draw others to faith in His Son, the Lord Jesus. Learn from the dolphin’s behavior because in this case the dolphin knew best! Hold firmly to THE ONE who can give you life now and always.