Shaken, Not Stirred

 

“You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” – Isaiah 26:3

I grew up watching James Bond movies.  No, it wasn’t at all because I liked them, but my Dad sure did.  Back then, there was one TV in the house, and if Daddy was home, he owned the remote.  If you want to watch TV, you watched what Daddy watched.  And…you didn’t talk during the show!

But deep down, I thought James Bond was pretty cool.  Beyond all the fancy gadgets, and buttons on the car dashboard, he wasn’t one to get scared of what his enemy was doing.  He kept on course with his mission, and the show always ended with James as the victor.  Thinking back on “007”, I think what I admired most about watching him, the Sean Connery him, was his lack of fear.

Fear can be such a debilitation thing.  Even with all the ways in which James could fight, fear would have caused him to forget that he was “Bond, James Bond”.  Don’t we as Christians sometimes do the same thing?  We forget who we are in the face of adversity.  We forget that our Father has got this whole world under His control, and that whatever happens He has allowed for our short or long term good (Romans 8:28).  We forget that through Christ, we CAN do ALL things (Philippians 4:13). 

James always ordered his favorite cocktail “shaken, not stirred”.  I think that was more of a person anthem than a drink order.  He could be shaken, but his spirit was never stirred up.  Even captured, He was not to be considered down for the count.  Isaiah 26:3 is one of my favorite antidotes for fear.  It says “You will keep him in PERFECT PEACE whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.”  To be a spiritual James Bond, we have to focus on who is pulling the strings: God, always.  And we have to trust that God is doing all things for our good. 

There’s a great expanse between believing in God, and trusting Him.  Friends, it’s hard to trust someone you don’t spend time with, and that is why we often feel fearful of our situations.  Distance between us and God clouds our vision, and gives us a stirred up, confused and fearful heart.  I pray that you, and I, will find ourselves to be more like Bond, James Bond, with a heart that perhaps can be shaken, but not stirred.