Rest
in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret
because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out
wicked schemes -- Psalm 37: 7 (NASB)
We can tend to be so restless as human beings. We carry out schedules that are packed with activities and responsibilities and then seek out even more to fill the nooks and crannies. Many work more than one job now, raise more than one child, serve in more than one ministry, and as a result are stressed at more than one point during the day! The World health statistics 2012 report revealed that now one in every three people worldwide has high blood pressure. The church is not immune. We work the same jobs, have the same kids, and pack the same schedules. Yet that is not the design God has for His people, which we know from Scripture:
Give
all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. -- 1Peter 5: 7 (NLT)
It is the design of God for His people to be blessed -- not
stressed! Like Martha we are worried about so many things, while Mary has
discovered what is best -- sitting at the feet of Jesus. In that great story
Mary has discovered what we all seek; rest. The dictionary defines rest as, " relief
or freedom, especially from anything that wearies, troubles, or disturbs ." Well let's be fair, nearly everything in
this world wearies, troubles or disturbs us! We grow weary of our job. We are
troubled by our economy. We are disturbed by the seeming uncertainty in the
life. It is interesting that the definition provides the two sides of rest that
we desperately need -- relief and freedom. God does not just seek to provide us
with comfort from what stresses us but He also seeks to provide us with the
freedom in Christ to avoid stress to begin with.
There are two
halves to the key verse with each half containing two points for us today. The
second half has God providing two specific examples of things that He knows
will typically cause us unrest and He is assuring us that we ought not to allow
them to affect us as so. The first is because of him who prospers. The sad
truth is that we constantly compare ourselves to other people. We see other
people as being more blessed than we are, more favored, or more prosperous.
There are two major reasons for this. First of all we live in a society that
sells riches and prosperity as the goal and a church system that too often
agrees! Secondly however is the fact that we continue to misunderstand
prosperity as God intends it. Yes it is true that some in the Bible were very prosperous
in the things of this world but that is not prosperity for everyone. The Bible
specifically says that while Joseph was a slave in Potiphar's house, God
prospered him. Later when he found himself in prison for something he did not
do, the Bible again says God prospered him.
So when we see this
admonition from the Psalmist I think what God is saying is we need to stop
comparing ourselves to other people. Because invariably we always find someone
we think is doing better than we are. We of course do not know what their life
is really like, what their sacrifices are, or what valleys they have gone
through. If we cut out the comparison game, we will find ourselves with less
fretting and thus, less stress. Focus on all that God has given you and not what
you see others have that you do not have. Remember what God has promised:
And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from
his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. -- Philippians
4: 19 (NLT)
Not gold and silver -- but Christ! The second part of the second half of the key verse is God telling us to not fret about evil. We see people all the time prospering in the world who range from cutting corners to being flat out evil. We even see it inside the church as well. We look and we think in our hearts how unfair it is. How unfair life is at times. That is how Elijah felt when he hid in the cave worrying about the wicked Jezebel and he asked God to end his life. God does not want us in despair. He is saying here that we need to stop fretting about the wicked. We keep focusing on the wrong life! No one escapes the final judgment of God.
For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive
whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body. --
2Corinthians 5: 10 (NLT)
Nobody gets away with anything
forever, nobody. Evil will always exist but God will always triumph. Stop
focusing on other people and stop fretting about all the evil in the world. The
first half of the key verse also contains two main points. The first is that we
need to exercise more patience than we do. Let's face it, we are impatient
people! We live in a microwave society and we just feel that we do not have the
time to tarry. But the ways of God are so far above our ways and His timing is
always perfect. I know my timing has always been less than stellar in my life!
When Joseph was released from jail he went from the prison to the palace in one
day! If he had been released just one day earlier that never would have
happened! God's timing is what we need to focus on. If that means wait
patiently, then we wait patiently, even in the valley. Remember the Bible says
He is working all things out for our good, so we need to trust better in His
timing.
Which brings us to the final point
and the main point for this devotional -- rest in the Lord. We tend to seek our
rest everywhere else first. We seek our rest in the things of this world.
Recreation, sports, vacations. Sometimes it can even be more destructive as we
seek rest in alcohol and drugs -- legal or otherwise. There is nothing this
world can offer you that can provide you the rest the Lord can. I love to go on
cruises but after the seven days are done, they are just memories. There is not
a lot of rest in memories. But the rest God can provide can last forever. Why?
Because it is not based on the situations of our lives but rather the Savior of
our souls. It is based upon the promises of God not the fleeting lies of this
world. We find rest in His Word because it reinforces His promises and
character. We find rest in prayer because we can hear directly from Him. We
find rest in worship because we are ushered into the very presence of the
Prince of Peace! Do not fret today beloved. Forget other people. Forget the
wicked. Sit at the feet of the master today and wait patiently for Him, finding
the rest that only He can provide.
Rev. Anthony
