Redeeming the Time, Part 8

Resting in God

A number of years ago an aging pastor boasted to me that he still outworked his staff. Ouch! I should have asked: “So what?” Why was this pastor driven to do so much? I don’t know for sure, but often our work is driven by frenzied hearts. We are worried about some perceived threat and we quickly devise plans that don’t include God. And when those plans don’t work out, we hastily devise new ones.

 

Our anxiety is often rooted in an inability to rest in God. The prophet Isaiah rebuked his people for desperately turning to Egypt for protection against the threat of the Assyrians. Isaiah chided them for forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit. He told them that this plan was useless. Instead he explained the true route to deliverance: In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength. He proclaimed to the people: Blessed are those who wait for God! (Is.30:15,18) The God who created an infinite universe could be trusted to handle this peril.

So, part of the solution to the frenetic pace of our lives is to learn how to trust a good and faithful God. If you lose your job, don’t rush to an employment counselor. If you are troubled by the growing chill between you and your spouse, don’t run to a lawyer. If your child is struggling in the classroom, don’t charge off to find a tutor. Your first response to any perceived threat, should be to quiet your heart before God, waiting on him, trusting him to work in his way and in his time. We often leap into problems far too quickly, acting before God has given us clear direction on the nature of the problem or the solution.

Alan Fadling confessed that when he is in a hurry, he often forgets to include God in his plans. “When I am most hurried, I run past much that God is trying to show me, give me, lead me into. . . . Taking the unhurried way enables me to be attentive to God’s presence and guidance. I want to learn to live at the pace of grace.”

A few years ago a frazzled friend was struggling in his work as CEO of a small company. He knew he was working too much (70-75 hours each week)as he vainly tried to complete his many tasks. As he began to understand God’s call on his life, he cut 15-20 hours off of that schedule. When I asked him if he was getting his work done, he said “No. But then I wasn’t getting it done before either!” He was becoming liberated from the need to be finished. He was learning to trust God’s work more than his own.

God wants to give you rest by carrying your burdens. Will you let him? Come to me, all you 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. Do your responsibilities feel easy and light? If not, ask God to teach you how to give them over to him, to wait on him, to rest in him.