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Christ Jesus, in His compassion healed, and also taught the multitudes who flocked to hear from Him, for to His loving and perceptive eyes they were like sheep without a shepherd, harassed and helpless. He was and is the Messiah, to whom the psalmist in confidence prays, Teach me to do Your will; You are my God; May Your good Holy Spirit lead me on level ground. [Psalm 143:10] And this day may this prayer do it’s work of grace in your heart, to be renewed in your mind, restored in your soul, and transformed in your life, to reign and rule in your circumstance, as you are led forward in His will and plan for your life. The key to it lies in the word of God, His counsel that comes to you through it, even as it did to Joshua at the entrance of the promised land. [Joshua 1:7-9] He was called to meditate, confess and be obedient to it in order to prosper and find good success.
For, the calling of God that is connected to your confession, leads to blessing of God that is good. It is a good success, for He is a good God, who has only good things to give you. Therefore, prosperity is having all that one needs to accomplish God’s will for one’s life, while good success comes about by doing God’s will for one’s life. But, there is a response to the call of God that needs to be made, and it is one that becomes your responsibility, for God never forces His will on anybody. It is a choice that you need to make, to His call ‘Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest’. [Matthew 11:28] And it is not a difficult choice to make, when He is giving you a good gift, that you only need to open your hands to receive. When God the Father, gave you His Son, and you made the right choice, you received a Savior! In the above scenario, the Lord’s call is to give you rest, as you learn from Him.
For His words are, ‘Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls’. [Matthew 11:29] His call, is one that leads to a blessing of rest in your life, through learning from Him, or being His disciple. It is knowing the truth that transforms you. And in this climate of unexpected and prolonged stress, when the future seems very uncertain in the lives of so many, a call to rest is one that is most welcome, in your heart and mine. But then, why is ‘learning’ a part of the package deal, could be the honest and understandable query that arises within you. For, directly receiving the gift of rest would definitely be the more attractive option!
But there is a purpose in all that God does in your life; and the Lord wants you to learn from Him, that with an understanding of it, you will be able to sustain the rest that He gives you. The value of it is what the psalmist has well understood, to confess with a thankful heart that one day that is spent in the courts, or house of the Lord, is worth a thousand elsewhere. [Psalm 84:10] And it is His attributes of gentleness and humility, that Lord Jesus advocates, as character traits that you need to learn from Him, as you make the right choice, and take up His yoke, for they are qualities that need to mark a person whose inclination is to teach someone, and also to learn from someone. And it is also so wonderful that you serve a God, who when He bids you to make a right choice, also reveals to you what the right choice is! It is what He spoke through His servant Moses to say, ‘I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live’. [Deuteronomy 30:19]
An ’either’, ‘or’ question though, can look very simple, but could be quite confusing and difficult, when you have to choose between the two, and also go on to experience the consequences of it! But it is not so when you depend on the Almighty and Only wise God, who not only shows you what you need to choose in life’s stressful situations, but also empowers and enables you to walk in it, through His Spirit and His Word. It all boils down therefore, to the choice you make, one that is your responsibility. For, stress is something that is a common denominator in every one’s life, young and old, in varying degrees, and especially so in the recent past, when a virus has brought unexpected misery and fear in the lives of people all over the world. But the manner in which it works in a person can be quite different.
1. Stress factor – in a carnal man :
The one who operates in his flesh, and in his own wisdom and strength will begin to murmur and complain, when something happens unexpectedly, to derail his self made plans. And what better example of it can there be than this prevailing pandemic! But when you are connected to God, and have taken up the yoke of the gentle Savior, He will teach you to respond rightly to anything that comes up to disturb your peace, and it would be about finding your solace and comfortable rest in Him. Murmuring and complaining though, will find a swift escalation to irritability, and the irritated person will inevitably irritate others, for it is how it becomes a vicious cycle of stress. And you will always find that when irritability lingers in a person, it would lead to anger in him, one that would evolve into bitterness when it is internalized, to defile him and the people around him. Ultimately it would lead him to a place of isolation and loss, that will only reinforce the factors causing stress within him, and become weary and burdened.
But the Lord’s offer, can break the chain of bitterness, to give you rest, even as He calls, the one who is weary and burdened, ‘Come, learn from Me, and find rest for your soul’. For, bitterness, when it is not uprooted, but allowed to linger, will proceed to become a downward spiral; one of apathy and fatalism in a person, and towards a degradation that is not the plan of God for him.
But, the vital difference :
You and I are more than mere men and women; we are men and women of God; and therein lies the all important difference when it comes to responding rightly to the call of God in order to draw near to Him, and to learn from Him. For the Bible is about faithfulness, and faith that is a positive response. It is about fulfillment of your responsibility, to draw near to the Lord, to learn from Him, and not a fatalistic approach towards all that happens, or an attitude of resignation, an acceptance of the status quo in your circumstance. You do not have to throw in the towel, and give up in an attitude of apathy, towards what is troubling and stressful that is coming against you. As a child of God, His banner over you is love; and love never fails. You can raise the standard, to overcome it all, as you confess His word of promise to you in faith, for His word will not return void, but will accomplish the purpose for which it was given to you.
2. Stress factor – the godly response :
The anger of man does not result in the righteousness of God, is what the word of God declares unequivocally. And it is why the need arises to learn from Him, for it is knowing the truth that sets you free. It will go on to develop in you spiritual reflexes that will see you responding rightly, in alignment with your responsibility. Anger is a very natural response, a physical reflex, that springs into action automatically, when people act against you, even as your hand comes up to drive away an insect or fly that comes to settle on your face. But your natural reflexes, even when it comes to ungodly emotions, need no more rule over you. For, when you are a child of God, having been made righteous in Christ, it is God who is holding your hand, to birth in you spiritual reflexes to respond according to His good and perfect will. Describing the outworking of it, the apostle Paul declares that when an anxious thought arises in you, the act of spiritual reflex would be to pray, speak to God about it, for it is His call, that you may come to Him and find rest, as you learn from Him.
And, how is grumbling a hindrance to it?
You may have one pressing need; but grumbling about it will prevent you from being grateful about all the other good things that God has done in your life, and more importantly reduce your sensitivity to learn from Him. It was the experience of the Israelites in the desert, and ultimately led to the ruin, of all but two of them. They complained in their tents, And did not heed the voice of the Lord. [Psalm 106:25] What stood between them and hearing what the Lord wanted them to do, in order to move forward towards their God ordained destination, was their complaining. And what God declares even to you and I is to call upon Him, when the need is pressing and immediate. For, He will answer you to show you great and mighty things that you do not know. [Jeremiah 33:3] He well understands your pressing need; but instead of complaining about it, He wants you to hear what He is saying. For, you may be lamenting the fact that your self made plans for your life have gone down the drain. But God’s thoughts are higher; and He knows the plans that He has for you; plans to prosper you, and not to harm you; to give you a future and a hope. [Jeremiah 29:11]
And you can find rest in your soul, knowing that God never changes His plan, but changes everything else to fit His plan for you. It is complaining and murmuring though, that can result in a future that is filled with regrets, instead of being one filled with the incomparable peace of God. And recorded in the scriptures are the negative narratives, the ill effects of complaining, as examples to learn from, to avoid the peril of not being sensitive to the voice of God. [1 Corinthians 10:11] For sad indeed was the condition of the Israelites, as they could not enter the promised land, for by their grumbling they destroyed their own destiny. And it was all because of their refusal to learn. A solemn warning in God’s own words, For forty years I was grieved with that generation; And said ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts, And they do not know My ways. So I swore in My anger, ‘They shall not enter My rest’. [Psalm 95:10,11] For forty years, God tried to teach them; but they refused to learn, and ended up missing out on the rest of God that was theirs. And why was it so? It was the rebellion of their hearts owing to indwelling sin, for the heart is deceitful, and beyond all cure, as described by the prophet Jeremiah. Therefore,
They walked in repetitive emptiness :
And how Israel went wrong is recorded in the scriptures in all it’s detail, in the words of the psalmist, to give a picture of how their acts of rebellion were often a cyclic phenomena, a repetition of the same wrongdoing, time and time again, and all because of their refusal to learn what God wanted to teach them. [Psalms 78,106,107,108] The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. [Psalm 78:9] They were equipped for battle, but did not have the inclination to proceed, their hearts being rebellious towards God. But today, God has given you a new heart, and put His Spirit in you, that you may faithfully hear His voice, to learn what He wants to teach you, and also by His grace, act upon it. Ten times they cried out against Him, as every time the Lord tried to teach them, they refused to learn from Him. [Numbers 14:22] And their days and years were consumed in futility and emptiness, as they ultimately fell in the wilderness. It is not your story though, for today, in the strength of the Lord, as you put your trust in Him, you rise up to stand upright, to move forward and enter into your divine destiny.
They quickly forgot :
The people of Israel could recognize and stand in awe of the Lord Almighty, when He worked a miracle in their midst, to satisfy their need in a manner that only He can. And they sang and rejoiced in thanksgiving and celebration. [Psalm 106:12] But what followed very soon, at the first sign of trouble, was their chorus of dissatisfaction, They soon forgot His works; they did not wait for His counsel. [vs 13] And thus, they tested God in the wilderness, to receive the object of their lust, but also a soul that was not thankful, one that did not starve and thirst for God. It happens so often in a life that is worldly, and forgetful of God’s goodness, when you may have got what you liked, but you do not like what you got!
And it is why, you are called to remember the Cross; as often as you partake of the Lord’s Table, to remember Him is the Lord’s teaching concerning it; to remember that all that you need in life has already been accomplished by God on Calvary. For, it is human tendency to forget. It took just three days for the Israelites to forget that the Great I AM, had parted the Red Sea miraculously for them to cross over on dry land. Once again they had a complaint; again, it was all about water. It could have triggered their memory, but it did not. And they did not wait for the counsel of the Lord.
But as God’s word declares :
Also it is not good for a person to be without knowledge; and he who hurries with his footsteps errs. [Proverbs 19:2] And it is the person who does not tarry to receive the knowledge and counsel of God, who hurries, to in the process make mistakes that could cause needless stress. But, ‘Come to Me; learn from Me, and find rest in your soul’, is the Lord’s call, His compassionate invitation. For, in all your challenges in life, God has a way for you to stand under it, navigate through it, or a way of escape.
The key to it all is learning from Him. The journey of the Israelites is in many ways a sad and tragic example, of what can happen without it, even as the Psalm 107 describes. It was in many ways a cyclic formula that was at work in their lives, whereby, in one way or the other having got into a problem, they then cry out to the merciful Lord in their distress, and are rescued and redeemed by Him, only to get back into another problem!
In wisdom- understanding HIS loving kindness :
But the psalm closes by describing the one who is wise, saying ‘Whoever is wise will observe these things; And understand the loving kindness of the Lord. [Psalm 107:43] Indeed when you are wise, you will draw near to the Lord, accepting His call, to pay attention to His word to you, in your burdening and tough situation, and you will experience and appreciate His mercy and grace that sustains you, strengthens you and sets you on high. And you will find rest in your soul, that comes by learning from Him.
Learning – even in a time of pain :
It is what makes the psalmist glad even about his time of affliction; for to him it was a time of learning, It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn your statutes. [Psalm 119:71] And the great value of it, is what is what he goes on to declare saying, The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of coins of gold and silver. [Psalm 119:72] It can be your experience too, as even in the midst of a tough and challenging crisis, you are able to see God’s goodness, in His word that comes to you, as you devote yourself to learning from Him. He will teach you, what is valuable and profitable, that you may never enter into the problem again; that your affliction may not rise up a second time.
And as you come to the Abba Father, in prayer, may your heart’s plea be that you may remain His alone, that He would never let you go, and that your heart may never grow cold towards Him. He is a prayer answering God, who will do much beyond what you ask or imagine. And may it see every lethargic thinking, and rebelliousness removed from within you, and your heart kindled with a fiery zeal, as you learn from Him, to be led forward by Him, from where you are, to where He wants you to be, for the glory and honor of His Name.
In the name of Christ Jesus Amen.
