Revolution

Rest-Part 1

Since I'm taking an Old Testament class right now for my Master's Degree, I'm reading a lot from the Old Testament. Recently Psalm 62 has really hit me, & in light of where my family & I are right now, it was a perfectly timed revelation for me. It's all about rest but not merely physical rest.

In Psalm 62, we have a psalm of David that many believe was written in a time when David feared that he was going to be dethroned. He describes himself as a "leaning wall" & a "tottering fence". Needless to say he felt vulnerable & fragile, but it's verses 1 & 2 of this psalm that jump off the page.

David says his soul is at rest in God alone. That word rest is so much bigger than simple physical rest. While it's often translated as "waited" or "waited quietly" the most literal translation is one of "the quietness of the soul" or "the silent expectation of divine aid". The rest that David has found in God is one that mirrors the "peace that passes understanding" in the New Testament.

One of the first things that jumps out to me is this: Rest is as much about attitude as it is about activity. David had to embrace the idea of releasing everything to the God who had been so faithful to him. If you're like me, that's hard. I like to fix things. I like working to solve a problem, yet life tends to throw us situations that we can't really fix on our own. Embracing God's concept of rest means we have to stop trusting ourselves for the solution & trust in the God we claim to follow. That doesn't mean that things always go smoothly. Don't forget there was an attempt to overthrow David that came so close to succeeding. David even had to flee Jerusalem & live again as an outlaw of sorts. Yet in the end, he was restored to his rightful place as king.

Where are you resting? Do you try to rest on what you can do, accomplish, or fix? If so, you're probably pretty worn down. What thing(s) do you need to let go of & entrust to the one you call your Lord & Savior?