Psalm 56: ⁸ You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your record? ⁹ Then my enemies will retreat in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me. ¹⁰ In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise, ¹¹ in God I trust; I am not afraid.

There’s an interest contrast which emerges from this passage written by David. On the one hand David writes of his “tossings” which suggests he is unsettled on the inside, unable to relax or be at peace. Yet in v.9 he writes, “This I know, that God is for me”. And later “in God I trust; I am not afraid”.

David is at once trusting in his mind, but unsettled in his heart.

It may seem to us that David is contradicting himself, but I don’t think so. There are times when my mind knows the truth but my heart has not yet caught up to my head. Like now when the church I lead is preparing to finally return to activity in our building, a return which was delayed because of water damage from the deep freeze of February. There are many details to work out for this to go well. And I know things will work out just fine, but sometimes I too become unsettled.

There remain many unknowns. The church that is emerging after 14 months of disruption is in many ways the same as the former church and yet different as well. What does that mean? I don’t know yet. Frankly, only the Lord knows. Which is unsettling. Yet, like David, I declare in my mind “in God I trust; I am not afraid”.

Lord send your peace to those of us who are unsettled on the inside. You have never failed us and you won’t start now. Help our hearts to catch up with our heads. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.