Resting and waiting upon the Lord. Sometimes the smartest thing we can do is to stop, wait, and rest. It is while we are resting when God can truly become the Lord in our life. It is easy to carry on a life full of worry and restlessness instead of allowing our Lord to truly reign in our life. But this is opposite of what the Bible tells us to do. Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass (Psalms 37:7). This is an easy verse to read. It is a hard verse to put into practice.
A three-part verse
This verse lends itself to be divided into three parts. The first part is what I will focus on for this particular entry. It reads, Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him… The picture above is of my now six-year-old daughter. For the longest time we made her take time after her busy day of Kindergarten to rest. One particular afternoon she refused to rest until I made her lay quietly on the couch. The agreement was, since she was not tired, that she had to simply lay still and quiet for fifteen minutes. Within five minutes of our agreement, she fell asleep.
I almost forgot I took this picture of her until I was cleaning out the synchronized camera folder. It seemed to be the perfect image to share with this post. Just as I had to force my daughter to rest, there are times we also need rest. And there are times the Lord will put us in a place where all we can do is rest.
Resting in the Lord and waiting patiently on Him
Within the scriptures there are several places where the idea of resting and waiting are tied together. The idea is simply there are times when we need to take a step back. It is a matter of our faith and trust in the Lord which is being tested. The question we must ask ourselves is “do I love and trust Jesus enough to let Him lead me in handling this situation?” The prophet Jeremiah wrote, Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein (Jeremiah 6:16).
Within this verse, we see the Lord giving Jeremiah instruction that His people are to stay firm in the old path. We know this old path is the plan that God put into place back in the Garden of Eden – that we should love Him with all our being and love others as we love ourselves. The Lord also tells us if we follow His plan we will find rest for our souls – something I know that I need desperately at times. We all have days when nothing goes right. The trouble we face on those days can eat at our very soul. We cannot find the rest our souls need because we are not willing to let the Lord to do the work He desires to do.
He is to be our rest and expectation
David understood this more than most people will ever understand it. He wrote in Psalms: My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved (Psalms 62:5-6). By the time David is writing this psalm, he has reached the stage of life where he has learned he can depend upon the Lord. This is why we read, my expectation is from him. David has put his complete trust and confidence in the Lord. He expected the Lord to intercede in any difficulty he faced.
David also acknowledged that the Lord was his rock and salvation – and this is what we, as Christians, must also understand. Our salvation is not about what we can do. It is about what Jesus has done. When we come to understand the fullness of salvation that Jesus offers us it will bring us to a place of rest we’ve never known before. If we trust Jesus’ offer for salvation, then what exists where we cannot put our complete trust in Him?
