The still small voice
Do not fret—it only causes harm (Psalm 37:8).
When I was a child, my mum and grandmother would often say “Don’t fret.” I grew up instinctively knowing what it meant: “Don’t worry; it will be alright.” This word ‘fret’ has two meanings: to be always anxious, and to gradually wear away something. It is a powerful word. Worry can eat away at our lives and drain us of peace and energy. We encourage each other in trying circumstances, but the reality is that we are often overcome by situations, and some of these do not change. So, how do we manage when we are faced with debilitating worry and anxiety? Is it too simple to say, “Don’t fret; it will be alright”? Well, it depends on who is saying it.
When we are children, and we have an accident or things go wrong, we go to those who love us to put it right. But sometimes we hide the problem, out of feelings of failure, guilt or independence. As Christians, we can follow the same patterns of behaviour. We go in faith to the Lord; or, we carry our burdens. A dear friend of mine went with his uncle, a man who taught me much about the Christian life, to visit relatives in Norway. On the flight, he told his uncle he had not been able to sleep the night before and had tried counting sheep. His uncle replied, “Next time you can’t sleep, don’t count sheep talk to the shepherd.” He didn’t say this just because it was a catchy way to remember our need to turn to the Lord in prayer. He said it because he believed it. He was a man who had learned, not merely to ask God for things, but to walk contentedly in communion with the Lord.
Burdens come in two forms: those the Lord asks us to carry, and those we choose to carry. We learn to distinguish between the two, and how to deal with care, in the presence of God. The Lord has told us in unmistakable terms not to fret, but to cast all our care upon Him (1Peter 5:7). It takes real faith to do this. We often come to God, without realising it, on our own terms and with our own expectations of what we want Him to do. We focus on the problem that hurts us, when God wants us to focus on Him – the God who heals us (Exodus 15:26). In doing so, everything else falls into place.
Elijah helps us to understand how we learn not to fret. The prophet had witnessed so powerfully to the power of God. But, in 1 Kings 19:11-13, he stood before God, full of despair and loneliness. God sent a great and strong wind, an earthquake and then a fire. It was in such displays of power that Elijah expected to find God. But the Lord was not in the wind, the earthquake or the fire. And in the quietness which followed, he heard a still small voice (a low whisper).
I never cease to be amazed by how the Lord reveals His all-mighty power in stillness and smallness. He holds this tiny world in the vastness of the universe. The Lord Jesus entered this world He made and displayed His supernatural power to demonstrate who He was. This led to the full revelation of the love, mercy and grace of God in His death at Calvary and His glorious resurrection. It was through suffering and sacrifice that the Lord Jesus manifests the heart of God. He did this to bring us to Himself and for us to find in Him every resource. We look at problems, and want to experience God’s powerful intervention at our time of need. The response we are looking for is found in the closeness, peace and power of His presence and in hearing His transforming voice say, “Do not fret.”
