Psalm 37:7
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.
Confession time! I HATE JANUARY. I mean, I don’t really have anything personally against the month necessarily, but it’s more the whole “here we go again” feeling that unnerves me. Some people look at the new year with anticipation about what’s going to happen next; others dread what might happen. 
I fall in the “do we have to start all over again?” category. I get a bit overwhelmed at the idea of repeating the cycle, and that’s why I love this verse.
If you read all of Psalm 37, you’ll find that David wrote “do not fret” 3 times in the first eight verses. Hmmm. Maybe that’s important. He also wrote about trusting in the Lord, delighting in the Lord, committing to the Lord, and of course, waiting for the Lord. This is my January verse, my “slow down and remember who’s in control” verse. Cycles start over, life moves faster, but my only command right now is to be still and wait patiently. It’s yours, too.
It’s easy to feel like life’s passing you by in a blur. It’s easy to get overwhelmed. But at the end of the day we’ve got to remember that – just like I told the groups at Winter Crave this week-end – God has given us a remote control with a big, fat, glowing pause button that we need to push regularly so that we can refocus on what matters most. What’s the benefit of hitting the Pause button and being still? We’ll have safety (v. 3), we’ll have increased righteousness (v. 6), we’ll have an inheritance (vv. 9 and 11), we’ll be upheld by Jesus Himself (v. 17), and our children will be blessed (v. 26). There’s plenty more, dig in and find some. The bottom line, though, is that there’s something to hitting the Pause button and waiting.
In the Japanese calendar, 2008 is the Year of the Mouse. For me, it’s going to be the Year of the Pause. I really want to learn how to wait patiently on the Lord.
I hope you do, too.
