BIBLE BITES
Confusion and Commotion
It is hard to describe the discomfort inside. Unrest. Confusion. Noise. Racket. I can’t seem to make head or tail of what’s going on. The waters of my life are murky and muddy and polluted with confusion. There just does not seem to be any rhyme or reason to my jumbled thoughts. Chaos, tumult, and unquietness reigns – along with disorder, disarray and dissonance.
Are you there right now? The thoughts of your heart seem to be scrambled and jumbled – confused and perplexed.
“For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.”
1Corinthians 14:33 ESV
Yes, I’m aware that I am taking the verse out of context and I am about to make an application. The context is disorder and confusion in the public gatherings of a local church. People speaking out loud and the listeners not understanding what they are saying: no translators. More than one person speaking at a time: no one taking turns. Just a free for all. A commotion. So much so, that it is just one big mess, a noise and confusion. Some may think the uncontrolled excitement in a church gathering, accompanied by euphoric goose-bumps is of the Spirit. It definitely was not back then and never is today.
1 Corinthians 14:33 couldn’t be plainer: “For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.”God is not the God of unquietness, noise or confusion. He is the God of order. He is the God of peace. Anytime there is confusion or a racket going on in a local church – it is not a spiritual thing. It is not of God.
Now here is the application: Anytime there is a mess in my life, anytime I am experiencing unrest and tumult inside, anytime when the waters are murky and muddy and confusion reigns – well, God is not the cause of it nor is He the source. He is the God of peace. He brings order and peace into my life – not disorder and disarray.
There are many verses to assure us that God is the God of peace. When there is an inner restlessness and unquietness, the struggle is myself. When my life is noisy and chaotic, the problem is not God. The problem is ME. There is some area of my life that I have not surrendered to the Lord. Self will. It could be the Lord has sent or allowed something to come into my life but I am resisting and fighting against it, rather than accepting it from the Lord. I am blaming the unrest on God because He sent the trial or allowed the circumstance – but really the unrest is caused by my own reluctance or refusal to submit to the Lord in some matter in my life.
Always remember the words of 1 Corinthians 14:33: “For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.” Identify the pockets of resistance and the areas of self-will and stubborn thinking. Confess. Submit and surrender and let the God of peace take charge. He specializes in bringing peace, tranquility and quietness to troubled hearts who are longing for peace.
Walk carefully and closely with the Lord today,
Peter Ramsay