Do What You Do

I must admit that I am perplexed by the phrases, “stand still” and “let God be God”. On a conceptual level, I understand the notion of not doing anything (stand still) and acknowledging God’s omnipotence (let God be God) and my limitations. But on a practical level, I don’t know how to “do” those things. In other writings, I have labeled these as “head faith” and “heart faith”.

Head faith is the faith we have been taught about. From an intellectual standpoint, we know about faith and we know we should have faith. Most of us have head faith.

Heart faith is the faith that comes from personal experience. Because you recognize how God has done what He does, we know that we know about faith. Heart faith is the real faith that truly can move mountains. It is also unshakable because it is tied to actual experiences. It not something we have been told, but what we have lived through.

In those times that I am faced with problems that I have no solutions and I have more questions than answers, “standing still” and “letting God be God” tend to be more of a challenge for me. I know (in my head) I should do these things, but knowing them (in my heart) is a different matter.

Here is how I deal with this conflict between head and heart faith.

• I stop trying to figure things out. I accept the fact that if I am going to make it through this situation, it can only be God.
• I accept the spiritual premise that whatever happens is part of God’s plan. If my house goes into foreclosure or my romantic partner leaves me or I lose my job or I fail that final exam, there is something in those experiences that is putting me closer to God’s will for me. Given this view, the “bad” thing that may happen is not the end, but the beginning of something.
• I expect to get up from whatever may knock me down. I may have to live out of my car or struggle with loneliness or collect unemployment or retake that class, but I will not let those things keep me down.
• While I am prepared for the worst that can happen, I keep my eyes open for the miracle. Just maybe that foreclosure won’t happen or maybe my romantic partner decides to stay or they allow me to keep that job or my teacher incorrectly graded my exam. Until the bad thing happens, I am expecting the miracle to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
• I do what I do. By that I mean whatever God has called me to do, I will continue to do. For me, that is writing. For you, it may be singing or being a good mom or serving as an usher or starting that business or being a faithful boyfriend or girlfriend. Whatever it is (and “it” is usually more than one thing) that defines you, keep doing those things. Yes your mind may be preoccupied with losing that house or having your heart broken or eating ramen noodles or taking that class for the umpteenth time, but you still can do those things that you do. To use a sports analogy, you still continue to do the fundamentals even though you are way behind on the scoreboard.

Some singles try to act like being single is no big deal. But all of us will face challenges that we will not know how to overcome. It is times like those that we will have no choice but to “stand still” and “let God be God”. Bad things do happen to “good” people (good in this case meaning people who try to live according to God’s will) but we still cannot let that be an excuse that keeps us from doing what we do.