Rest, Don’t Fret

“… do not fret—it leads only to evil” Psalm 37:8 (NIV)

No matter what life may bring, we must avoid anxiety like the plague. It is not good for the heart to fret; it brings too much stress to the soul. We must recognise anxiety as the enemy that it is and give it no space. It comes to steal, kill and destroy. It comes to destroy every trace of peace that abides within. It distorts vision and paralyses fruitfulness. It distracts and dissipates. “Be anxious for nothing…” is not a suggestion but a command – a call to arms! For no heart can bear anxiety and remain healthy.

You will keep in perfect peace
him whose mind is steadfast,
because he trusts in you.

Trust in the LORD forever,
for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal.

Isaiah 26:3-4 (NIV)

The heart must always be at rest in God. It’s not good for the heart to be restless or fretful. It is harmful to our spiritual health. Our minds must be stayed on God. Our souls must continually gaze on him. Any pose of the soul that clouds that gaze is an enemy, no matter how helpful it may look.

The call to follow Christ is a call to walk consistently in his deep-seated peace no matter how the winds blow. We must set the sail of our soul to walk in that peace. Abide in his peace. Guard your heart with all diligence. It is much more important that our hearts are at peace – rested in God than for us to get what we want. Cease from striving and rest. Be still and know that he is the Lord. It is not your responsibility to have everything under control. It is enough to know God is in control. It’s our privilege to rest in God. Whether you face a mountain or a valley – fret not, but rest. Let hell do its worst but note this: they will not prevail against you. Don’t fret; just rest!

The way of peace and victory is to stay our hearts on God – “those whose heart is stayed on you” (KJV). The NIV renders that as “whose mind is steadfast”. The double-minded cannot receive anything from God.

If anxiety comes in like a strongman, don’t delay but flee to Jesus and cast your cares upon him for he cares for you. The most important action a believer can take is this – to ABIDE. Abide in him then beloved – trusting, looking up to him, hearing him, obeying and waiting on him. You will not be disappointed.

What Has Happened To All Your Joy?

“What has happened to all your joy?” Galatians 4:15a (NIV)

If the devil cannot steal your joy, he cannot deprive you of anything that is yours. The target of the enemy’s fiery darts is not our material possessions but rather to rob us of that joyful confidence in the faithfulness of our Father. He hates our joy because he knows it is the source of our strength, the strength that will always ground him. The devil cannot stand the force of joy. Yet for many of us, our joy is what we often allow the enemy to steal so easily.

This is why Paul asked the Galatians here “What has happened to all  your joy?” The way I read this, it is as if they didn’t notice when their joy slipped away, and you know, that is often what happens to us. We come out of our quiet time of devotion with the Lord in the morning bubbling with joy and feeling as if we can jump over any mountain. Then as we go into the day, we allow our negative reactions to the little irritations and bigger problems that life throws at us, to erode our joy. That person who wasted our time, the other who spoke to us unkindly, and someone else who carelessly broke our equipment, the car that refused to start, and the sudden bad news we received, all crowd in to rob us of our joyful confidence in the Lord. And before we realise it we lack strength, because the joy of the Lord is gone. We need to learn the discipline of constantly casting our cares upon the Lord if we want to keep our joy.

Joy is a very important barometer for measuring where we are in our communion with the Lord. Has my joy level gone down? What happened to it? Joy should be a constant and growing experience in the life of a believer. Yet in reality it is not so for many of us. We look back to those early days of our walk with the Lord and we know things are different now. We have allowed our response to the troubles of life to erect a wall between our Heavenly Father and ourselves. We lack that joyful confidence in Him that we used to have.

If we would listen, we would hear the Lord calling us back, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Mat 11:28). We can recover joy if we choose to trust him. Our ‘joy’ should not depend on our circumstances. The joy of the Lord does not depend upon our feelings but on our will. We can choose JOY. That is what Habakkuk did when he said, “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, YET I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior” Habakkuk 3:17 & 18 (NIV)

Habakkuk was saying, “I choose joy, I am not going to let my trouble get me down. Because I know the Lord is faithful, no matter what life might serve me, I choose joy!” You can too!