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The Soul’s Rest

3/26/2020

 
“Truly my soul finds rest in God...Yes, my soul, find rest in God.”--Ps 62:1, 5 (NIV)

On the first page of his Confessions, Augustine memorably wrote, “Thou awakest us to delight in Thy praise; for Thou madest us for Thyself, and our heart is restless, until it repose in Thee.” He was merely echoing what David had expressed many centuries before, “Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him” (Ps 62:1).

Whether it was deliverance from enemies (David) or salvation from an illicit lifestyle (Augustine), both David and Augustine remind us that until and unless we yield in joyful reliance upon the manifold mercies of God our Saviour we cannot have true rest of soul. But once we cast ourselves into the arms of unbounded Love (Eph 3:18) and flee to the High Tower of grace (Prov 18:10) having seen the blood-stained cross and empty tomb (Rom 4:25; 1 Cor 1:18, 23-24, 30), then our souls can rest; rest from our guilty consciences, our shameful pasts, the world’s futile charms, the law’s demands, our enemy’s accusations, and God’s promised wrath. Trusting in Christ we can say with David, “Truly, my soul finds rest in God.”

But, we also have to learn to say with David, “Yes, my soul, find rest in God” (Ps 62:5). This is the strange paradox of life with God in this fallen world. We know what it is to have a sweet and sure rest in God. And, we know what it is to have our rest in God disturbed. Sinful failure (again!), family crises, mental breakdowns, cancer, miscarriages, infertility, divorce, church and pastoral scandals, job loss, financial reversal, and yes, viruses; all of these types of threats and experiences can disrupt the soul’s rest in God. 

What are we to do? Like David, we are to counsel our souls and preach to our hearts the greatness of our unchanging God, “...my hope comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge; Trust in him at all times.... pour out your [heart] to him, for God is our refuge... One thing God has spoken, two things I have heard: ‘Power belongs to you, God, and with you, Lord, is unfailing love’” (Ps 62: 5b-8, 11-12; italics are mine).
 
Disturbed and unsettled? By God’s grace and in the light of his greatness command your soul to find its rest in God. 

P.S. - with the Bible, Christian hymns (like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9t5_ZNmaw) and Christian biographies that help you to see in living color God’s faithfulness to his people are great ways to help settle your soul in God.

The Worries Of This Life

3/20/2020

 
“Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.” --Mark 4:18-19 (NIV)
​
The worries of this life; how quickly they can sprout up and sprawl out in our hearts. And Jesus says that this is dangerous, for the normal cares of day to day life have the potential to choke out the work of the word in our souls. If this is true in normal times, how much more then is it the case in the peculiar providences of God like a pandemic. People are anxious about their lives.

We have seen with our eyes and yes, felt within our hearts urgent, anxious concern. We wonder about our daily needs fearing that supplies could run out and we will be lacking the goods we view to be necessary. And Jesus teaches that this is dangerous for our hearts. If we don’t deal with these Word-choking weeds bringing them into submission to the promised care of our Father and the lordship of Jesus then our souls will become empty and barren. God desires us to be fruitful in every occasion of life granting us his Spirit so that we may yield love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal 5:22-23). By God’s grace we need to weed our hearts of the worries of life so that:

Instead of the hoarding nature of selfishness, we display the giving nature of love ​ (Heb 13:16).

Instead of anger over bare shelves, we show the joy of knowing our Father owns the cattle on a 1000 hills; indeed, the whole earth is his! (Ps 50:10, 24:1)

Instead of panic’s rule, we are governed and guarded by ​ peace ​ knowing along with David that we “have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread” (Ps 37:25).

Instead of resentment’s bitterness, we experience the ​ patience that restfully waits upon the Lord (Is 30:15 & 18) and bears with others in their burdens and weaknesses (Rom 15:1; Gal 6:2; Col 3:13).

Instead of adding to fear by passing along needless speculations and “what if” scenarios, we spread the​ kindness of a calm disposition and the​ goodness of truth and encouragement (Acts 27:13-26; Acts 15:32; Rom 15:4-5).

Instead of the terse speech and hardened spirit that difficult times can bring out, we display the gentleness of Christ by our care for those who are being worn down by fear and burdened with changes (Matt 11:28-30).

Instead of losing our heads in the fogginess of our times, let us show the clear headedness of a Spirit-wrought​ self-control (2 Tim 4:5).In all the changes and adjustments that we all are experiencing, let us manifest the faithfulness that holds to our unchanging confession (Rom 10:9; 1 Tim 3:16; Heb 10:23), confidence (Ps 46; Rom 8:26-39), and calling (Lk 9:23; Eph 4:1-6).
​
Pastor Robert Sheehan wrote, “Serenity of spirit in a world when men's hearts fail them for fear is a great witness to the gospel.” Brothers and sisters, let us watch out for worry’s weeds, dealing with them regularly and ruthlessly so that we may abound with fruitful living in difficult days.

    Author

    Chuck Cook is the pastor of Grace Bible Church - Rolla.

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​Grace Bible Church
​902 Arkansas Ave.
​P.O. Box 2263​, Rolla MO 65402
  (573) 364-6167
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