As the school year begins, there is an exciting anticipation, a kind of comfort of seeing people we have missed over the summer and of getting back into a routine. But at the same time, there is an unsettling in us. An unsettling that can be almost a kind of anxiety. How will this year go? How will our kids do? What if this happens? This pull between the comfort and the unsettling is like that old game of tug-of-war.
Remember that game of tug-of-war? Where there is a rope with a ribbon tied to the middle that dangles over a ring of muddy water. With a team of people on each end of the rope. At the sound of ‘go!’ each crew pulls as hard as they can. The suspense quickens as one group gets closer to the mud, then with a burst of strength pulls the rope and the other team is closer to the mud. Back and forth they go. Pulling with all their might. Neither side wants to fall into the muddy water. But one will!
It’s unsettling knowing that you could be in the muddy water. But at the same time feeling a comfort knowing you are not alone. That tug-of-war feeling of the comfort in the unsettling.
I get this same feeling from Isaiah 43:2 NIV “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.”
When. Meaning you are going to. You are going to have hard times, trouble or adversity. They are going to come. Unsettling.
Through. Pass through. Walk through. Not go around. Not run through as quickly as you can. Not avoid or get delivered from. But actually pass through. Even walk through. Unsettling.
If we stop there, focus there. We can stay in the unsettling. We can get surrounded. We can get blinded. We can get consumed by the unsettling.
But if we look again at the verse. When we look at what else is being said. We can see the comfort.
Will not sweep. Comfort. Will not be burned. Comfort. Will not set you ablaze. Comfort. His promise.
Then when we look again at the beginning of the verse. “When you…I will be with you.” Comfort. We are not alone. God is with us. The truth. The promise. Comfort.
There is comfort in the unsettling. We can choose where our focus will be in this tug-of-war. We can choose to focus on the unsettling that is to come. Or we can choose to focus on the comfort that is sure to be there when it does.
Dear Heavenly Father, forgive me for focusing on the deep water, the rushing river and the heat of the fire. Forgive me for focusing on the unsettling times and not focusing on Your comfort. On Your promises. On You being right there with me. I want my focus to be on the comfort that You provide. Help me in this tug-of-war to keep my focus on the comfort that comes with You and not on the unsettling. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.