“Our distrust is very expensive.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson
Do we trust God when He says to come to Him all who are weary? Or do we feel that if we rest and wait in Him, everything will fall apart? It is difficult to hold back from taking matters into our own hands. Deep down, we know God has a timing, and most times, it is not our timing. Case and point, my husband is waiting for an Ear, Nose, and Throat appointment to discuss thyroid removal surgery. He was told by an endocrinologist last week that he needed surgery as soon as possible and a consult was sent to an ENT doc that day. And then silence. Days go by. Forever seems to pass by while waiting for action. My husband made some phone calls with concerns only to find out computer systems are down and no one can get in for an appointment. More waiting. Does God know the discomfort John has? Does God see our concern that the thyroid seems to be more swollen?
I studied quite a bit on Sabbath Rest last year. The call to rest in God, to give Him our time, to restore our hearts and minds in Him is a learning process. In this technological day and age, information is at our fingertips at all times. We can purchase just about anything at any time, on any given day, at any given hour. But we cannot purchase the deep restorative Sabbath Rest. I am not talking about Sunday naps here, but of the deep rest which trusts God completely. To let go of one day, one thought, one action that takes us away from God-centeredness, takes determination. In this fast paced world, waiting is a foreign concept- even in Christians. I will be sharing here and there more about this topic. It is one that is talked about quite a bit in our house. We let technology, worries, opinions of others rob us of needful peace of mind. Some answers simply cannot be found on the internet, we are learning. We have found that Google Search Engine cannot give you answers that only God alone wants to give.
Psalm 23:3 -“He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”
For King David to pen that God restores his soul, he must have been in a stage in life that needed restoring. It seems to me that life is a “Rest, Renew, Repeat” cycle. Whether we are in need of restoration of strength, of sleep, of right heart, of faith, our Heavenly Father is where we need to run.
Distrust in God’s plan, His timing, leads down dark roads. When God created Sabbath Rest and exemplified it, He meant it for our good. He leads in paths of righteousness and courage to trust Him for His name’s sake. The process He takes us through to return us to a place of contented trust is meant to be a testimony, for our sake and for others’. And all is meant to glorify Him in some way. We have to be still long enough, though, to let Him lead and restore. To distrust and doubt God’s ways is costly. It costs us time, energy, faith, and even healing when we go about trying to work around Him. God is the Creator of time, isn’t He? And when we give it back to Him willingly to make use of it in whatever way He sees fit, time is redeemed or claimed as effective for His glory.
Pausing, trusting, resting in God should not be our last resort. This weekend, may we be intentional about placing the worries, the doubts, the questions in His hands and voluntarily give Him our time to rest in Him.