No Matter What

 Ah.....

that first cup of coffee in the wee hours of the morning, dawn yet to break across the sky and day unfolding to be busy........

Shower, breakfast, devotional, making lunch,  out the door to commute across the river, sitting on the bridge inching slowly east   as car after car going west whizzes past and I'm pondering life as an almost empty nester and back to teaching full time and making lessons and teaching language and play and fitting in the work outs and dinner prep and clean the house and find time to connect with husband, and with oldest daughter, and small group prep and a social life with friends and church and..........

you get the idea.

We are busy.  Americans don't really know how to rest, I have been reading.  Europeans get it.  They incorporate a rest time into their actual work day!

They take a month vacation, many of them, with no threat to their jobs.

Americans are lucky if they get a week.

and so as I ponder this life in this season, I begin to reflect on some Scriptures I've read recently about rest. And yet, it isn't all about actual physical rest.  I need to rest spiritually.

I need to let all of the above earthly things...although all good things...just go and let God control them.  Give them over to God for Him to do with them what He purposes.  I'm finding many Scriptures on spiritual rest.

Here's one I've been savoring:

"In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.....therefore God will wait, that He may be gracious to you; and therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you.  For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for Him."

 ~Isaiah 30:15, 18~

 I started researching what this portion of the Word means.

This is a picture of Israel having trouble with trusting God. They had  trouble depending on God alone. They had left God due to their fears.  They are being exhorted to come back to God by their faith.  Of course, this applies to us today.

Rest refers to quietness here.

And returning refers to confidence.

We have to rest........to give God our plans and purposes.  When we have the confidence of God..that known trust, we can rest!  We can still our hearts and minds in Him knowing He will lead us.

When we trust God, He brings strength to us.  We can be assured that He is working for us.  And in so doing, we will glorify Him.

The second part of that Scripture is about God waiting.  He has mercy and grace to impart to us.  He will wait for us to come to Him.  To trust Him.

This is a promise!  We can stand on the promises of God to give us renewed hope and strength!

I'm sure commentators would explain this much better than I.  I'm sure they would delve into the history of the Jews and why they had so much trouble just trusting God.

For me?  I just need to let go each day of the things I hold on to ever so  tightly.....every thing that comes my way....and see it as a God moment....to be in the present while I trust Him for the future.  And if I am stuck in traffic on that bridge inching ever so slowly to work....I can know that God sees this too....He sees me struggling with patience and He whispers...."let it go".  Trust me to see you through to the other side.

It works......a peace will wash over me.

And if it works for me, it will work for you.

Trust him....rest in Him.....and He will give you the strength.

 No matter what the circumstances.