HOLD YOUR PEACE

Our kids went to a private Christian school for one year prior to God calling us to homeschool them. When we were at that school, I served on the board of their parent-teacher organization. One of the other board members did not approve of the way in which I resigned from the board and withdrew our kids from the school. So she sent me a hateful and hurtful email, filled with accusations and insults. The interesting thing about her email was how she prefaced it. She began the email with, “for my own peace of mind, I need to say these things to you…”

 
I wanted very badly to respond to her email, but praise be to God, I never did. Although I yielded to the Holy Spirit enough to not respond, I still allowed her email to bother me for several days. I literally lost sleep stewing over how I wanted to respond to her. I had no peace of mind, constantly thinking about what she said to me for her “peace of mind”. Then the Lord opened my eyes in a new way to a very familiar verse. 

I had always remembered Exodus 14:14 as, “The Lord will fight for you, you need only be still.” I didn’t give much thought to what it meant to “be still”, other than that we should wait on the Lord before taking action. But then the Lord showed me what surrendering our battles to Him really means. The New King James translation is, “the Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”

When I read that verse in the New King James translation, God revealed to me the sin that was in my heart – I was not trusting Him to be my defender. I was clinging onto the desire to defend myself, correct the allegations against me, and point out my accuser’s sin. But, as Christ followers, Jesus calls us to “hold our peace” – we shall forebear doing or saying anything, and have ease in our minds, trusting and believing that God is always in control. 

My brothers and sisters, how often are we denying God’s sovereign position as King of Kings and Lord of Lords by taking matters into our own hands? How often is our peace of mind contingent upon speaking what’s on our mind? How do you respond when you are attacked and falsely accused? Do you hold your peace and trust that God sees all, hears all, and knows all, or do you give into your fleshly desire to defend yourself? King David said it best in Psalm 109:
“O God of my praise! Keep not silence, for the mouths of the wicked and the mouth of deceit are opened against me; they have spoken to me and against me with lying tongues. They have compassed me about also with words of hatred and have fought against me without a cause.

In return for my love they are my adversaries, BUT I RESORT TO PRAYER.” Psalm 109:1-4 AMPC
Christian, notice that King David did not resort to defending himself; he did not resort to explaining his position to others; he did not resort to refuting the false allegations against him. He resorted to prayer, having faith that only God is his rock, salvation, and defense (Psalm 62:2). 

Tiffany Gustafson

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