Alone and awake, I look at the stars...

It's another of those times:  1:30AM and I'm awake!!  Bear with the disjointed thoughts.  
Today, Marybeth Whalen's blog mentioned Psalm 16:7, "I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me."  
And here I am wrestling instead of receiving instruction.  So many people I know are suffering in sickness and death, prayers seemingly unanswered or open-ended.  Family and church situations are hurtful, unsaid anger and frustrations are too much to go into here, and I am tired of hashing and rehashing them.  I just want to rest.   


Calm down, Janie, there are a few promises to behold.  


My favorite:
Exodus 6:6 (NASV)
Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel,  I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.
This verse makes me want to cry, and I love this version-  that outstretched arm is none other than Jesus, right?  And all those judgements went to Him.  But we still get the grace, we still get the salvation, we still get the love of God, the blessing of God, the presence of God.  I get all of that from this verse.   


Here's another one:
Lamentations 3:21-26 (NIV)
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  
I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.  
I hear a biblical "Relax" in this verse.  Especially in the situations I am facing currently.  Don't you ever feel completely consumed in your life?  Legit or dramatic.  Your problems?  God didn't consume the bush while He inhabited it talking to Moses, He is not going to consume me, but be compassionate to me.  And then the second part is not so easy.  Patience is a virtue because it is NOT NATURAL.  At least in me.  But my hope is in Him.  Not in me, not in the leaders of my church, not in my husband, family or humanity in general.  Not in medicine, not in the media.  In Him.  In Him.  In Him.  The pressure is off.  I can't do anything to control what is coming, or what will happen.  And really?  What do I fear?  Death?  Loneliness?  No.  In Him is hope, life.  


Here's the last one:
Romans 8:6, 38-39
...the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace...
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 


And I think now I can sleep.  
Amen