Just Be Still
Luke 23:55-56 (ESV) The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. 56 Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath day they rested according to the commandment.
How hard it is to rest when your heart is in turmoil. How could the women rest on this day, the very day after the crucifixion? They wanted to tend to Jesus’ body; they wanted somehow to serve the One they loved, but the commandment forced them to rest. Did they pace the floor as they waited? Did they succumb to despair, having seen their Messiah murdered? They could at least dress His body with the spices they had prepared, but, sadly, not until this forced period of rest had passed.
The Lord, in His wisdom, ordered the circumstances so that He would be crucified on the day before the Sabbath. It serves as an example for us. It gives us an understanding of His ways. He accomplishes His purposes. He finishes His work. But then we must wait in faith until we see it break forth in our natural circumstances. We must rest. He has commanded it.
Can we be still while we wait? Or are we so anxious that, when we could rest, when we could enjoy the gift of rest that the Lord has given us, we spend it in unrest, in turmoil, and in miserable unfounded speculations and forebodings?
But we have seen in other things that this is His way. Consider the way a plant grows: The seed falls into the ground and dies (John 12:24), and following this a period of rest in which we see no evidence of the life that is coming. Jesus spoke a parable about this:
Mark 4:26-29 (ESV) And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. 27 He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. 28 The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
We have planted. And God has ordered all things to arrange provision and blessing for us. Can we trust in His faithfulness and His goodness until it comes to pass? He is a faithful God. Remember what Naomi told Ruth after Ruth had committed her heart and her future to Boaz. Would he squander the most precious offerings that she had committed to him? Would he ignore them? Would he trample her? Would he probe into her lingering Moabitish ways and then reject her? Would he disrespect her after she had unveiled and committed to Him her very heart?
No. This is how Naomi counseled Ruth:
Ruth 3:18 (KJV) Then said she, “Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall: for the man will not be in rest, until he have finished the thing this day.”
The Lord has finished those things that concern us. He has prepared good things for us and good works for us to walk in. He will not rest until His finished work breaks forth and is accomplished in our circumstances.
Ephesians 2:10 (ESV) For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Psalm 138:8 (ESV) The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.
Psalm 46:10 (ESV) Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
Prayer:
Father, I cease striving. I quiet my wandering, wondering soul. You said that the just shall live by his faith, and so I do. I trust You. You have always taken care of me, and I know You will continue.
I don’t regret giving up my life to follow You. I want to give up more to You. Everything. You say that I must give up everything, including my own life, in order to be Your diciple. Help me reserve nothing. Help me abandon everything. I will not look back. I trust You.
