At Rest

 

“Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.”  Psalm 116:7

I must confess, I stink at resting.  If I sit down to rest, I immediately think of the laundry I need to finish, the email I need to reply to, the call I forgot to respond to, or see a pillow or throw that needs straightening.  Getting still at night to go to sleep is also difficult.  So it probably comes as no surprise, having my soul at rest- not likely.  My soul is as high strung as my brain!

Often when the Bible refers to your soul, it means your mind, your will or your emotions.  Quieting those things sometimes takes supernatural empowerment. Especially for us type A personalities who are high achievers and high stressors.  But be at rest we must.

How do I bring my mind to rest?  First of all we must commit the thoughts of our mind to the Lord.  To be at rest is to cease from relentless worrying, obsessing and running scenarios with possible outcomes in our mind.  To be at rest in your mind is to live in the moment, trusting God with your future.  Secondly, this is accomplished by doing as the Psalmist did, and talking to ourselves.  Often we can talk ourselves into a place of chaos just as easily as we can talk ourselves into a place of peace.

How about bringing rest to my will?  This is possibly tougher than the mind.  Anyone else besides me a willful sort?  I am a person of grit, moxie, and perseverance… great signs of leadership potential.  (Some of the pretty lies I tell myself!)  My will desires to have its way at all times.  To bring rest to my will is to surrender it to the Lord.  It means sometimes I do not get to have the last word or have my way.  At times the Lord calls upon me to keep the peace and walk in love.  Bringing the will to rest has much to do with wrestling it upon the altar and praying that the Lord burns up all that is not of him.

Finally, bringing rest to my emotions is needful.  Emotions?  Yeah, we all have them.  Some of us are better at burying them, denying them or hiding them.  Bringing our emotions to rest allows us to do the right thing in season or out.  We do not attend church only when we feel like it, rather we make an emotion-less decision about it and stick to it. We follow through with commitments because it is the right thing and we follow through with projects because we are people of integrity.  A person who operates above their emotions is a person walking in victory.

“Be at rest, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to me.”  Indeed he has!  Every good and perfect gift came from him.  Everything that is right in my life is His doing.  When I think about his goodness, it is much easier to be still in my soul.  In fact, thinking upon the goodness of the Lord causes me to want to sit at his feet as Mary did in the Bible, just drinking in his love, wisdom and presence.

Dear Lord, help me to find rest for my soul in you.  Thank you that you have been so good to me.  Help me to operate in the power of your spirit and not to be led around by my mind, will and emotions.  In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Sherri