All I Can Do Is Nothing?

"The Lord will fight for you, you need only be still."

Exodus 14:14

I was reading a post written by a friend today and one sentence she shared took on special meaning for me as she spoke about her chronic illness.   "All I can do is nothing".  Do you ever feel like that?  I know I do.  Sometimes we come to a place where we feel we can do absolutely nothing to change our circumstances, like when life has handed us a huge challenge, and we do all we can to fight the battle for as long as it takes, even becoming exhausted from our own efforts ~ But nothing changes.  So we try another tactic...hanging on with sheer determination and endurance.  But nothing changes.  We ask God for help in our cause.  But nothing changes.

There is nothing left to do..."All we can do is nothing",  so we let go, crumbling into a heap, weeping in sorrow and frustration, giving up the battle.  Surrender.  Surrender to our circumstances, surrender to our God who tells us in Exodus that there are times when all we need to do is be still and let the Lord fight our battle for us!   A place of acceptance like my friend spoke about.  A place of surrender.

I have been at this place many times over the years, but I have trouble staying there.  I rest, pick myself back up and spend all my energy trying to change my circumstances ~ thinking~ " I can do this!"  I search for answers, for cures, for ways to change my situation.  with sheer determination I plod forward.   I wonder how often I get in the way of what God wants for my life by not shifting my focus,  by not sitting still before God and hearing His voice and embracing peace in where I find myself. 

All I can do is nothing?  What does that mean?  Giving up?  Not hardly.  It means I let go of my plans,  my timing, my actions and reactions so I can be obedient to His.  It means sitting still before God and surrendering my will to His, living from a place of acceptance with hope.  It may seem like we are doing nothing..but we are really doing something...surrendering to the most powerful Someone in our lives. Letting Him fight our battles when we are weary.  Trusting in His love for me and His plan for my life.