Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Calm (emotionally) (09/13/07)
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TITLE: Finding Calm in a Psalm | Previous Challenge Entry
By Valerie Miller
09/15/07 -
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In today’s world, we are challenged daily by fear and anxiety. Read the newspaper or watch the news on television and our emotional responses are immediately triggered. Fear and anxiety swirl through our lives like a funnel cloud threatening the calm.
The face of fear and anxiety have many expressions – death, terrorism, famine, disease, enemies, injuries, violence, war, judgment and the unknown – just to name a few. None of us is exempt from these emotions, but we do have a choice as to how we find the calm when faced with them.
Our emotions can be influenced even during normal functions, such as travel by flight. Recently, I found myself face to face with fear while flying. The steward had just notified us to buckle our seatbelts as I looked around me to see if anyone else was feeling uneasy. I made a quick study of how others face their fear of flying. Some folks talk to keep from thinking about it, some put on the headphones and tune out the world, some get busy with paper work and still others grip the arms of the seat, shut their eyes and seem to whisper a prayer, like me!
I was buckled into an aisle seat, had my fingernails deeply imbedded in the armrest and was just about to whisper a prayer, when my attention was caught by a family of three across the aisle from me. The father was in the window seat, the mother in the middle and a young boy of about 10 was in the aisle seat. They joined hands and as they bowed their heads the boy quietly recited Psalm 27 NASB with a clear, calm voice. It took him only three or four minutes to complete his recital and when he was finished the family squeezed hands and shared a look of confidence and yes, calmness.
Not surprisingly, I had joined them in their prayer. After the boy had stopped speaking, I experienced a calm that I had not felt while flying before. It was as though a gentle hand had stilled my heart, calming my anxiety and I relaxed. I looked over the aisle and shared a reassured smile with the young boy and realized that the airplane had taken flight and we were well on our way.
Later that night, when I was settled at home, I opened my Bible to Psalm 27 NASB and realized that this was a Psalm of David, in fact it was described as a Psalm of Fearless Trust in God. I smiled, remembering how His words were provided to me by the voice of that young boy and how God had soothed my heart and calmed the storm that I fearfully faced that day.
Fear and anxiety are just two of the storms that we come face to face with on a daily basis in this world. Once we allow these dark emotions to gain a foothold, they can consume us. Thankfully, as Christians, we can pray His word and immediately experience the same calm that was shared by others during another turbulent storm so long ago.
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