"Cease striving," the Bible says. What does that mean? It means to be absent of any sort of anxiousness... to not be "agonizing" over a situation or circumstance. It means to enter into rest. How does that happen?
It can only happen when we have a right perspective of who God is, and what He is able to accomplish. Psalm 46:10 in the NET Bible says, "Stop your striving and recognize that I am God!" (You're not!) To cease is the Hebrew word raphah, which means to relax, to become limp; to be feeble, to be weak; to leave alone... to release. A couple of different images come to mind, for me. They seem contradictory, but they're not. One is that of a relaxed posture, where the shoulders drop, and muscles become limp. Not a posture of tension, but of complete submission. The other is that of an arrow, stretched back against the string in a bow, and then released. It flies where the wind and its propulsion takes it, "resting" in its flight. Trusting the wind to do its work.
I have pictured myself falling back into the arms of Jesus. My striving ends, and His strength takes over. It's a much better place to be.
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