Daring to be Restless

Everyone wants a fairytale relationship, right?  Handsome man rescues a beautiful woman, the two live happily-ever-after, ya-da, ya-da, ya-da.  But I don’t know about you – I haven’t seen a whole lot of that going on in our society anymore.  Every once in a great while, you meet a couple that is delightfully at peace, unified in purpose and desire, still in love with each other and living victoriously – but not nearly as frequently as God intended.  We don’t even tend to see true friendships anymore.  Why?  As strange as it sounds, I think the answer lies embedded in the story of Samson and Delilah.  As I was reading their story this week, I was really challenged.  Instead of finding a familiar, though strange story, about a man whose life course seemed to be determined by every woman he met, I was confronted with weaknesses and tendencies I’ve noticed (and hated) in myself and other women seeking relational bliss with their spouses and their best friends.  See, God gave us this st

“Then Hannah prayed and said, ‘My heart exults in the Lord; my strength is exalted through my God.   My mouth is enlarged against my foes; because I rejoice in thy salvation.” -           1 Samuel 2:1, JM Powis Smith translation Having just read Charles Capps’ book, The Tongue: a Creative Force , about the power of speaking the Word of God and aligning our confessions with what He says, I was struck by this verse this week.   Hannah said that her mouth was enlarged against her enemies as she rejoiced in the Lord.   The New Berkeley translation says it this way, “In the Lord my heart is joyful; in the Lord my strength is heightened.   Against my enemies my mouth is freely opened because of my enjoyment of Thy deliverance.”   And I found myself wondering – if I’m truly rejoicing in the Lord and His deliverance, if I’m living in the power of Psalm 103 which tells me in verse 2 to bless Him and not forget all the wonderful things He’s done for me – how is it that my mouth is not en