How to keep your peace in a falling-apart world (and why you don’t have to know everything)

Yesterday, I sat in on another national briefing call regarding COVID-19. It occurred to me again as I listened–that there is much that goes on behind the scenes that isn’t, well, seen. That isn’t known.

This weekend, we spent time with our friends from Kenosha. He’s a police officer. In hearing about the inciting event and the subsequent horror-filled days, I caught it once more–that there are things behind the scenes that aren’t, well, seen. That are not known. And as such, it behooves us not to judge, assume, or pass sentence.

Here’s the truth. So many things in life aren’t either/or. They’re both/and. Just as there are good cops and bad cops, there are good bakers and bad bakers. There are good florists and bad florists. There are, for crying out loud, good priests and horrible ones. And the horrible ones do make us cry…

Right out loud.

In a world of instant judgment, censure, and condemnation; in a time when *facts* and images can be manipulated and used. In a day and an era when a mob calls for blood, the words of the Psalmist come to my mind.

“Be still, and know that He is God.”

It calms my frazzled nerves. It soothes my anxious mind. It brings relief to my weary heart, this being still. This knowing that He is God.

I don’t have to know everything. I don’t have to decide who is good and who’s bad. It’s okay to just rest in peace, to be content in His love. To hold my tongue in the clamoring crowd.

For I do know God, and I know that He is good.