Day 8 of 30

A Mind Stayed on God

From the Peace in Chaos devotional series

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee."

— Isaiah 26:3

Reflection

Try this. Inhale slowly. Hold for two seconds. Exhale, longer than the inhale. Notice that for those few seconds, your mind was not running scenarios. It was watching breath. The Hebrew word translated "stayed" is a verb tense that implies leaning — a mind that rests its weight on something steady. Most of us do not have a thinking problem; we have a leaning problem. We lean on the next email, the imagined argument, the worst case. The verse is not a command to think harder about God. It is an invitation to lean differently.

Prayer

I lean on You. That is the whole prayer.

Peace Challenge

Set a recurring alarm for every hour you are awake today. When it rings — wherever you are, whatever you are doing — take three slow breaths and silently say "I lean on You." That is the whole exercise. Eight to ten times today, you will have practiced the verse with your body, not just your head.