Let me describe my time with God every morning and it will help you get a glimpse of what I heard from Him today. I begin by praying a short prayer that God would open my eyes to what He would have me learn from His word. Then, I read 4 chapters from the Bible (one from the non-wisdom literature of the Old Testament, one from the Psalms, one from the wisdom literature of the Old Testament, and one from the New Testament). After reading the Bible, I read two different devotional guides. They are just to "prime the pump" of my thinking for the day. Today, I had two thoughts really come to the top of my devotional time.
First, in my Bible reading I read Hebrews 4 which talks primarily about entering into rest with Jesus Christ. That concept of rest is one that often seems fleeting. I know someone is reading this and saying to themselves, "Yeah, right, rest. I'll rest when I'm dead, but I don't see it happening before then." Let met tell you, there is great rest in Jesus, but you have to be fully surrendered to enjoy it. That means you let go of the details of life.
Am I telling you to quit working or to quit paying bills? Of course not. Rest is not necessarily the absence of work, but rather the absence of worry. For instance, you sit down towards the end of the month and you realize there is more month than money, are you worried about it? That worry would hinder rest. Instead, we should trust that Jesus promised us we would have all we need and let it go at that. It is an incredibly liberating thing to realize that you really aren't in control. As much as you want to be in control, you can't handle it. So, instead of wrestling for control of every detail of your life, trust God. By that I mean looking at the checkbook and realizing there isn't enough and saying, "Lord, you are better at math and accounting than I am. You know this is not going to work. I give it into your hands. Amen." Say it, believe it, and then do it. Trust that God will indeed handle it.
Second, I was reading from Oswald Chambers' book My Utmost for His Highest. He wrote the following:
Our natural inclination is to be so precise— trying always to forecast accurately what will happen next— that we look upon uncertainty as a bad thing. We think that we must reach some predetermined goal, but that is not the nature of the spiritual life. The nature of the spiritual life is that we are certain in our uncertainty. We are certain of God even when we are uncertain of our future.
Do you see how this relates to the concept of rest as we see it in Hebrews 4? We can rest when we trust that God is in control of what is, in our mind, uncontrollable. Do you believe it? I think that God sometimes puts us in the place of overwhelming circumstances in order to teach us that He is not overwhealmed. Do you feel like you are drowning beneath the wait of your worries? Let God have them and really trust Him to take care of it. He can and will.
I can tell you this much. As I prepare for this international trip, I have very little idea of what is going to happen. I know that I will get on a plane next Saturday morning and 23 hours later, I'll leave the destination airport to begin working. I know that 6 days later I will re-enter that same airport and begin the journey home. I have the exact details of this part of my trip. I know of two or three things that are supposed to occur when we get there. I am unsure of what day (much less what hour) any of these things may happen. There, now you know about as much as I do. Would it worry you to leave on such a trip? I am confident that God has designed this trip for me and to not follow Him would be to miss out on His rest. So I will go, Lord willing. I am uncertain of the future, but I am certain of my God.
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