In quietness and trust is your strength

The other day I was doing my centering prayer in my truck at work during my lunch break. I had just finished my prayer time and was meditating on Isaiah 30:15-18 as part of my lectio divina. I believe God gave me the phrase from that passage "In quietness and trust is your strength". I began to focus in on that phrase and to ask God what he wanted to teach me about His word. In the next moment, my phone was ringing. I looked at my phone and hesitated to answer it as I did not recognize the number, but I decided to go ahead anyway. My boss had called to inform me that one of the systems we support was in the ditch and he needed my help. I had not eaten or finished my meditation, but in that moment, I thought to God, "I guess you are going to teach me about this passage in the laboratory of life today". So I got out of my truck and walked back into work with the attitude to learn from God what he wanted me to learn. I left work the next morning at about 5:30 AM, having worked to get our system back online and being up for over 24 hours. As I contemplated the lesson God showed me, I realized what "In quietness and trust is your strength" meant for me that day. I thought of life as a road that lead between 2 vistas. On the one side was beautiful mountains, flowering fruit trees and all things pleasing and desirable to the eyes. On the other side was a raging river, which looked treacherous and produced fear in me. I thought it natural to look to my left to the beautiful side and to desire the things it contained. The right side was something to be avoided since there was uncertainty and a sense of powerlessness. I think the left side represents the things that so easily draw my attention in this world and include careers, money, vacations, recreation, family, retirement, health and all things self-absorbing. The right hand side represents for me that which I do not prefer, frustration with my job, difficulty in our marriage, the struggle of raising a family, poor health, uncertainty about the future, and everything that produces fear and anxiety in me. And yet, as I considered this passage and the past day, I believe God was calling me to the raging river. To walk into it and submit myself to its control. A couple of years ago my son and I went white water canoeing. The river was high and we knew there was downed tree ahead, called a strainer. Yet when we saw it we panicked and tumped our canoe. The river was swift and I did not have time to get to the shore. I thought I could grab hold of the tree but the force of the river swept me right underneath the tree. I can remember a sense of powerlessness to do anything but be carried along by the current. God calls us to those things which we might despise and would rather avoid so that he can provide what we have no power to. If I submit to God, without complaining(quietness) and trust in Him, he will provide the strength needed to make it through whatever comes my way. God is calling me to the very things I would rather avoid, so that His strength and glory might be revealed in me. "Not by might nor by power but by my Spirit" says the Lord God Almighty(Zec. 4:6). So when I am confronted with a task that I do not particularly like to do, I think of what God wants to reveal to me as I submit to and trust in him. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all(2 Cor 4:17).