“Stand
at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way
is and walk in it, and you will find rest
for your souls.” Jeremiah 6:16
“Find rest,
O my soul, in God alone, my hope comes from Him.” Psalm 62:6
The Lord has been teaching me so much this
month about rest.
I have spent most of my life doing.
I like to keep myself busy, whether it be with extracurricular
activities, coffee dates with friends or many times, planning for the next
endeavor that I want to do. It gives me a sense of accomplishment to have
numerous deeds that I can check off my list at the end of the day. The Lord has been opening up my eyes to the
falsehood of this accomplishment and satisfaction I feel. Often times, when I am in a “doing” state of
mind, I am not even focused on the activity at hand; rather I am looking
towards the next planned event I have. I
am mindlessly running through my days, thinking that I am gaining fulfillment from
them, but if they were truly providing fulfillment I wouldn’t need to keep
“doing”. I would be happy, satisfied and
full.
Through this realization the Lord has
taught me a new way of living; being. He
desires for me to be. It has been one
of the most beautiful lessons He has taught me thus far. In being,
I am able to enjoy the same activities that I would previously do, but in a much more real and
rewarding way. In each moment I am
present. I’m not focused on or worried
about the future. I revel in the day
that I have been given. I see the
absolute beauty in each moment of my fleeting life. And it’s just that; fleeting. Our lives come and go quicker than we could
ever imagine. One of my biggest fears
used to be that I would wake up one day and realize that I missed my life; that
I let it pass me by without taking advantage of each moment and experience
given me. There are limitless options to
my future and at times, it is overwhelming.
I can spend hours thinking about different choices and the paths that
would stem from them. But in being, this is a fear that I can
absolutely let go of. I have come to
realize that it doesn’t matter. It
doesn’t matter where I am, what I am doing or even who I am with. I know that I could be happy and satisfied
doing just about anything. And that’s
because my state of being is rooted
in Christ.
Learning to be in life comes from resting in Christ. Now when I say resting, I don’t mean napping
or being lazy, rather I mean it in the sense of gaining your support and
guidance from Jesus. That you would
trust the Lord enough with your interactions, activities, friends, family and
life to give it over to Him and just be. The Lord so strongly desires for us to
find our rest in Him. He wants to give
us a freedom in life that we never could have imagined. I can spend a million lifetimes attempting to
do my life the way I believe it
should be done, but it will never bring me the contentment and joy that one
life resting in Christ can bring.
“Come to me, all who are weary and
burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my
yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
The church that we are working with this
month is located up in the boonies. It
takes us about an hour to hike up and 30 minutes to climb down. On our way home from church today, the Lord
reminded me of this lesson of doing and
being. I was staring down at the ground for the
first part of my hike, looking for deep crevices and large stones that would
possibly be in my path and cause me to stumble.
After a few minutes of walking this way, I looked up. What I saw was possibly one of the most
beautiful scenes I have ever seen. I was
overlooking a huge, lush valley with dark clouds pouring over it, while the sun
peaked through them, giving you a sense that the glory of the Lord was truly
upon the place. It was such a surreal,
amazing sight that I never would have seen if I had kept looking down.
I
think that we tend to do life looking down.
We rely on ourselves to get from point A to point B and that often
requires us looking ahead to make sure we don’t have any mishaps.
I’m challenging you to look up. Look up and be in the present. Look up
and view the splendor that the Lord has graced you with today. Don’t worry about falling; the Lord has
you. When you place your trust in Him, you
can rest assured that you will be taken care of. Will there still be places of challenge in
your path? Of course. But instead of
worrying and missing the beauty of the world, you can be and know that you will be carried through those times. Ah, it is so freeing!
The book “Come Away My Beloved” contains
love letters from the Lord, reformatted from His word. Two days ago, one of my teammates randomly
gave me a page number and told me that that was the Lord’s letter for me. This is what the Lord spoke to me:
—Come Away My Beloved
O My child, I have waited long for thy coming. Mine eyes have grown weary in watching and
Mine heart heavy with longing after thee.
For I have said “Rest in Me”, but ye have striven. I have said “Stand still”, but thou hast
continued to run. I have called but ye
have been listening to the voices of men.
Lo, I say unto thee, turn into Me. Thou needest do no more. For thou wilt find thy quest ended. Thou wilt see then how futile has been all
the struggle. For like the sinner who
misses the gift of saving grace through absorption in good works, so thou, my
child, hast missed My sweet reality in thy frantic effort to please Me.
As Martha in her desire to minister to Me
forfeited My nearness, so thou hast done.
My child, I have need of nothing.
I desire only thy love. Give me
this first always, and whatsoever service may follow, Thou wilt then do with
light feet and a heart set free.
Abandon to me thy whole being, and I will
then work in and through thee in such a way that even as I am using thee, thou
shalt simultaneously experience My energizing power; so that in the very
process of giving, thou shalt in very truth receive even beyond what ye give,
and shall in each instance emerge richer and stronger.
There is no loss when you serve Me
thus. For when thy life is wholly lost
in My life, there is never anything but gain.
As the prophet of Old exclaimed, “They go
from strength to strength” Psalm 84:7
Only sin worketh death and loss. Righteousness worketh life and health.
So come first to Me.
Yea, come until the stream of thy life is
swallowed up in the ocean of My fullness.
Then shalt thou go, and thou shalt give, and in thy giving thou shalt
never know lack.
“The Lord is thy Shepherd; thou shalt not
want. For the Kingdom of God is
righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” Romans 14:17
—-
Look up. Rest. Be.
