Every January we endeavor to take some special time to pray, renew our vision, plan out our calendar year, and redefine our future goals and plans, etc. We like to “set our sails” like this because it helps to establish direction and brings some peace of mind.
However interestingly this year, I was somewhat hindered in my heart from doing much of that. I just kept hearing the Lord say, “REST.” And then when I would say, “But Lord…” He would say, “TRUST.”
I was then reminded of a song Jill wrote many years ago called, Rest In The Lord, and it just kept playing over and over in my mind:
Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him
For those who wait on the Lord will inherit their part
Trust in the Lord and delight yourself in Him
and He’ll give you the desires of your heart
So I took some time to look up and meditate on that scripture in Psalm 37, which her song was taken from, and that’s when the Lord really started talking to me. Here are some of the highlights of that chapter:
Psalm 37
3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
4 Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.
7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him
23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, And He delights in his way.
25 I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread.
34 Wait on the Lord and keep His way, And He shall exalt you to inherit the land.
This entire chapter is AMAZING, but these 5 words practically jumped off the page at me:
TRUST – DELIGHT – COMMIT – REST – WAIT
It was a definite challenge at first because I wanted direction and clarity and answers from the Lord concerning a number of things on the front burner of our lives. But then I realized – there really wasn’t a better way to start the New Year!
Instead of having everything mapped out and clarified, He has challenged us to place everything into His hands and Trust Him!
And how do we gauge if we are Trusting in Him? Check to see how much we are truly Delighting in Him and Resting in Him on the inside!
To really Trust is to Rest
To really Rest is to Wait
Not that we should never plan or work hard and move forward! But as a starting place in this new year, we must all Commit our lives to Him and find Delight in Him, then we will experience the kind of Trust that I believe the Lord is asking us to have in Him.
In Closing,
Trusting Him with what is most precious, Delighting in Him, Committing everything to Him, and then Resting & Waiting–these keys are vital steps in hearing from the Lord.
We all are so blessed that we have a loving Lord Who can be trusted with our ENTIRE lives and future.
Amen,
