Rest Area Ahead!

I have been thinking about waiting on the Lord and what it means to wait. So often I grow impatient for the fruition of the plan that God vision that God has given me and confirmed for me, especially over the last few years.

I remember Moses who was impatient to be about the task God laid on his heart to be an advocate for his people Israel. Many of you remember the story how he took matters into his own hands and in the process of trying to do the right thing ended up becoming a killer and had to flee the courts of Egypt to save his life. He spent forty years in the palace of the Pharaoh only to spend the next forty years of his life tending sheep in the wilderness. It was only after eighty years had passed that God deemed him ready to lead the nation of Israel out of captivity and begin their journey to the promise land. He led his people for the next forty years of his life. It is interesting to note that a full two thirds of his life was in preparation for the last third of his life.

Then I turned my attention to David and how he waited fifteen years after he was anointed to be the next king of Israel before he sat upon the throne of his tribal family Judah. It took another seven years before he would rule a united kingdom of all twelve of the tribes of Israel.

I have to admit that I feel a little anxious thinking that I might be taking longer then Moses or even David to learn my lessons for the next phase of my ministry. Do you ever feel that way? Anxious for the next thing? Perhaps we are wishing our lives away.

I would encourage you to learn to rest in the Lord while you wait. Yeah I know easier said then done. I’m still struggling with this. Perhaps the problem is that I’m struggling! But I am reminded that God offers everyone of his followers a Sabbath Rest. His rest comes with a heaping helping of His shalom. (We often translate this word into the English word – peace. But it is so much more than that it is a fullness and contentment of the soul that leads to the Sabbath rest that the writer of Hebrews speaks about.)

There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God – Hebrew 4:9

I desperately want to enter into that rest today. To allow cares and worries to fall away and rest in the arms of God safe, secure and at rest being content at what He has for me and for all who seek to find rest unto their souls!

Heading to the next Rest Area

Pastor Val