As we navigate along the road of life, our biggest blunders often occur when we are caught off guard in the early stages of an unexpected trial.
Surprise is one of the enemy’s favourite tactics, and it can catch us off guard. It can result in the loss of vision and cause us to head off course in a direction that does not align with our assigned mission.
What are we to do when life throws us one of these curve balls? A lot has changed in my own life this past year and in the lives of some of those close to me. Things don’t always go to plan, or work out the way we may have hoped for.
How do we regain our centre, find our stability, and reorient ourselves so that we can head back in the right direction?
One of the verses I’ve been reflecting on is Psalm 37:7:
“Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him. Do not fret because of those who prosper in their wicked ways.”
If we needed to distil a principle out of this verse that we could deploy when we find ourselves of course, I propose that it would be to remain steadfast.
Notice that the verse contains three directives, which when taken together allow us to be steadfast:
- Rest in the LORD
- Wait patiently, and
- Do not fret
So the first thing we need to do is to rest in the LORD.
But what does that mean?
We must first recognise that God Is… that He is an authority and power that is higher than ourselves. Our lives must therefore be lived is submission to Him and His Word. We must place complete trust in His faithfulness. This is our duty as followers of Christ.
The path to follow is defined for us by the first three of the Ten Commandments. As we walk these out in our lives we enter into the LORD’s rest, the Sabbath rest as defined by the fourth commandment.
Now whist rest is our ultimate destination, when we follow the path that our King has set in front of us, when we travel along His Highway, we receive today the security and rest that being on this highway affords us. It is the highway that our King has responsibility for. It is He who maintains and secures it, and this provides us with rest today as we proceed on our journey.
This leads us to the second directive… to wait patiently
As we become attuned to the voice of His Spirit within us, we are to wait patiently.
Waiting itself is not passive. We have spoken about this previously in Caleb’s Journal. The deeper meaning behind waiting is to be in a process of binding oneself closer to the Word of God, in order to gain strength – in the same way that the individual strands of a rope gain strength when they are bound tightly together.
Again this is a process, one which requires time. We are to do this in patience.
Remember, time is a strategic advantage. Patience acts as a weapon, it unveils the truth and exposes hidden motives.
This then leads us to the third directive… to not fret.
This is what follows from resting in the LORD and waiting patiently on Him, and these three together allow us to remain steadfast.
By being steadfast we are on the way to regaining our centre, and heading back into the right direction. From here we need to take some additional steps, such as analysing our responses, seeking counsel and anticipating God’s divine intervention. However, these are topics for another day.
For now, I hope that you have been blessed with these reflections on Psalm 37:7.
