"My soul finds rest in God alone"

I think we can all agree that these are unsettling times. There are a lot of things going on right now that are throwing us off, throwing me off! It gets easy to feel overwhelmed doesn’t it? A bit lost? Maybe even a little hopeless? It’s also a time of high emotion and strong opinions. Many of us are angry because of various things. One of the hard things about having a strong opinion (of which I have many) is that when it gets challenged there is this temptation of, rather than having a rational discussion, getting pushed further into your corner – it becomes more important to win the argument than to actually be right or represent Christ. I have been there – even recently. 

 

This is all frustrating and exhausting, isn’t it? The other day I decided I needed to listen to some music. Michael W. Smith (well known Christian music artist) has a new cd out called “Still Vol. 1”. It is instrumental music during which Smith reads scripture. It is an excellent resource and I highly recommend it. Anyway, on one of the tracks he read a passage that I didn’t recognize – it went like this, “My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him.” (Psalm 62:1) Now I have heard many scriptures that talking about our soul finding rest in God or from God or from Jesus and those are all so meaningful – but what made this one stick out to me was the word “alone”. “My soul finds rest in God alone.” This verse seems to indicate that there is no other place but God where your soul can find rest.

 

No wonder I am so tired and frustrated and irritable. I am looking for rest in so many other places than God. I look for rest in escape, in opinion, in angry talk – I look for rest in my family – which is beautiful but it’s hard to find rest from a 1, 4 and 6 year old – although they can be very encouraging. Your soul was meant to find rest in God. 

 

How do you find rest in God? You never stop acknowledging Him. What do I mean by this? Be constantly aware of Him, pray to Him without ceasing, know that He is right there with you in every situation. 

 

I love the way it’s put in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
    and do not lean on your own understanding.
⁶ In all your ways acknowledge him,
    and he will make straight your paths.”

 

Acknowledging the Lord means remembering that He is God and you are not, He is the Savior and the Judge and the Boss and you are not. Talk to Him about what is troubling you, ask Him to “search your heart and reveal any grievous way that is in you” (Psalms 139:23-24). God will humble you where you need to be humbled and He will encourage you where you need to be encouraged. 

 

Acknowledging the Lord means obeying Him instead of your own passions and intuitions. In 1 John 3 the apostle tells us that the way we love God is by obeying His commands and that His commands are not burdensome. Indeed, they lead us to freedom! Acknowledging God means that you are here about His business and not your own. This will allow you to work with God and not waste your life and energy and frivolous pursuits that will only further your spiritual exhaustion.

 

When you acknowledge God you may get tired – but there’s a difference you know between getting tired and being exhausted. Tired can be good – it comes from a good days work. Exhaustion comes from spinning your wheels on a farce, something you can never and should never achieve. 

 

God is the only place you can ever find rest.

 

I will leave you with a text from a friend I received a few days ago at just the right time, 

 

“Remember, the only thing you should feel overwhelmed with is the love of Jesus Christ.”