Yesterday evening we delivered our granddaughter and her
friend to a huge youth event. After helping serve supper to about 800 of those
youth, we went to our motel room in town to settle in for the night. I actually
fell asleep pretty quickly. As I had
drifted off to sleep it was quiet and the temperature was just right.
I woke up about an hour later to a loud noise from outside,
along with the realization it had grown quite warm in the room. It was a rude
awakening from my restful state. Our chance to get away for a few days of
leisure turned into a noisy interruption.
Thankfully the thermostat was quickly adjusted. And
thankfully also we found the noise outside our door to be a charter bus, which
was warming up to pull away from the motel. Soon it was quiet again.
I picked up my phone for a moment to check the “news” on
facebook. We have quite a few friends who are going through some rough stuff in
their life. As I look at their posts, some of them are full of information
about their quiet life’s interruption of pain, agony, disease, distress, loss
and more.
Maybe your life has been interrupted too. You were enjoying
everything just as it was. Good health, good marriage, good job, bright future
and endless happiness. For most of us things slip up suddenly and we find
ourselves face to face with the very thing that we never wanted to see. The
temperature has been turned up and we’re flush with worry for the future. The
noise pounding in our ears feels like it will never stop. We become stressed, distressed and can’t seem
to feel blessed anymore. I know many of
you have the noise and heat of life’s turmoil drowning out any other sounds.
Where can you go? What can you do? Escape is no alternative,
for the bus is right outside your door and it is threatening to run you
completely over. The thermostat of tribulation is stuck on high and you’re wringing
wet with agony. Stress is all you feel. And you want to escape it all. You just want it over so you can get back to
your normal, everyday, beloved life.
It’s rough out there. And it’s rough where you are right
now. Only God knows the final outcome. Only God knows the future, beyond your
present troubles. Only God knows when the noise will quiet and the heat will
subside. But He has made us promises for those times when nothing is going
right. When the hurts and anguish and pressure and pain are almost unbearable,
He has made sure and magnificent promises to get you through.
As the hymn writer penned, “There is a place of quiet rest.
Near to the heart of God.” This is our shelter in the storm, our hideaway in
the heat, our peace in the midst of it all. We’re promised that God will be
with us through it, in it and beyond it. We’re not given the exact time the
heat will subside or the noise will become quiet, but we are promised He will
be with us, to comfort us, to bless us and to remain faithfully by our side all
the days of our life.
Oh beloved, although you cannot run from your present
circumstances, you can run to the Lord, who is with you! He has given you all
His precious promises contained in His book of love. They are there to
encourage you, to equip you, give you rest and get you through it all. Open up
the Word of God and seek after your Word for the moment. Memorize it. Write it
out. Tape it to your mirrors, post it on your dashboard. Stick it on your
refrigerator. Believe it. Rest in it. Open up your heart and let Him soothe it
with His balm of comfort. Let Him hold you in His everlasting arms. Let Him
show you that He is able to do what only He can do. Even though your situation
seems so unreal, His Word is real. Together you will make it. Together you will
survive the onslaught. Together you will walk in peace knowing that, because He
loves you and He’s for you, there will be quiet right now and peace forever as
you rest in the light of His Word.
Psalm 119:50 This is my comfort in my affliction, That Your
word has revived me.
Isiaiah 40:11 Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, In His
arm He will gather the lambs And carry them in His heart…
2 Corinthians 1:3 Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all
comfort.
Matthew 11:29 Take My yoke upon you and
learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for
your souls.
Psalm 34:17-18 The Lord hears His people
when they call to Him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. The
Lord is close to the brokenhearted; He rescues those whose spirits are crushed.
Psalm 9:9-10 The Lord is a shelter for the
oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.
Those who know Your name trust in You, for You, O Lord, do not abandon
those who search for You.
Psalm 27:5 For in the day of trouble He
will conceal me in His tabernacle; In the secret place of His tent He will hide
me; He will lift me up on a rock.
No comments:
Post a Comment