“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30.We hear that all the time.Pastors tell us that it means that we are to lay down our burden of sin,but was that all Jesus was saying?How do we lay hold of passages like this,in a world that is so busy?When we read passages like "Be still and know that I am God" (the 1st part of Psalm 46:10),How do we lay hold of that in a world where the tyranny of economic necessity,& the responsibilities of love seem to take up 25 hours a day?We are told by preachers "have your quiet time.Read your Bible.I do not disagree with that.But sometimes others can tell us what to do,& even though what they say is valid,They cannot tell you how.Sometimes it may feel like being in a 747 Jumbo jet after some tragedy has befallen the flight crew & you have been chosen to fly the plane,though you have no experience.The guy on the ground is talking to you on the radio,& says"It's really so easy.All you have to do is land the plane".There used to be a bumper sticker years ago.It said "God is my co-pilot".I saw that,& I thought like probably millions of others how good that sounded.The problem was later explained to me (yeah...I am that slow) God never asked to be co-pilot.He knows in the wisdom that only a creator can have that He "needs to take the wheel".Fine we say.Here is the wheel.Please take it Lord.And yet we open our eyes & we are still in the seat & the 747 still needs to land.What now? There was a time in the Old testament when a King named Jehoshaphat (I know....why did his mom & dad give him a funny name like that?) This King loved the Lord,but circumstances came that were truly life & death.You are probably tired of my babbling by now,so lets see what God had to say about it in His word.
1After this, the Moabites and Ammonites with some of the Meunites came to make war on Jehoshaphat.
2Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, “A vast army is coming against you from Edom,b from the other side of the Sea.c It is already in Hazazon Tamar” (that is, En Gedi). 3Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. 4The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him.
Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of the Lord in the front of the new courtyard and said:
“O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you.O our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your Name, saying,
‘If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.’
“But now here are men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, whose territory you would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt; so they turned away from them and did not destroy them.See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance.O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you.”
I love the last sentence in this passage form 2nd Chronicles chapter 20."We do not know what to do,but our eyes are on you."
The King did these things.1)He reminded God (really he reminded himself)who God is.
“O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you"
2) He reminded God (actually he reminded himself) of what God had done in the past.
"O our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?"
3)He reminded God of His word (more about this later)
"They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your Name, saying,‘If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.’"
4) He told God about the situation.
“But now here are men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, whose territory you would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt; so they turned away from them and did not destroy them.See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance.O our God, will you not judge them?
5)By faith,He left it in God's hand.
"For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you.”
Back at step 3,where the king reminded God of His word,what Jehoshaphat remembered was a passage that we are familiar with (at least we are familiar with part of it).It was when God was speaking to Solomon just after the dedication of the temple.The passage is 2nd Chronicles 7,verses 11 through 16,& you might go read that.The verse we are familiar with is verse 14
"if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
If you will read the rest of 2nd Chronicles 20,you will find out what God did,& I encourage you to do so.
There was a song written many years ago that is titled "The Master's Hand" sung by Annie Herring.It is often confused by it's title with "The Touch of the Master's Hand",but that is another song. Some of the lyrics in the song go like this:
"When I start to waiver
I look upon my past
And there I find His favor
I am not downcast
For He's taught me to walk by faith
Whenever storms arise
To look to and seek His face
Watch the dark clouds rise". The next line is this:
"By holding to the Master's hand".
Now you are saying "that is all well & good,but I am still in this seat & we still need to land & we are running out of fuel."
Want to know the truth? The truth is I cannot tell you what to do next.There are things you can do.You can move that yoke in your hand.You can move those 4 engine throttles in the center console.You can move those rudder pedals with your feet.And you can listen.There is that voice coming over the radio with instructions.You can listen to that voice.You can do your best to follow the instructions given by that voice.Or....what?".
When you have done all that you can do,& it is not enough, & the armies of Moab & Ammon are coming for you,& it's obvious they are not coming for a neighborly chat,Do what Jehoshaphat did.In so doing,you will put your hand in His,& He will lead you to safety & to rest.God bless you
Matthew 11:28-30.We hear that all the time.Pastors tell us that it means that we are to lay down our burden of sin,but was that all Jesus was saying?How do we lay hold of passages like this,in a world that is so busy?When we read passages like "Be still and know that I am God" (the 1st part of Psalm 46:10),How do we lay hold of that in a world where the tyranny of economic necessity,& the responsibilities of love seem to take up 25 hours a day?We are told by preachers "have your quiet time.Read your Bible.I do not disagree with that.But sometimes others can tell us what to do,& even though what they say is valid,They cannot tell you how.Sometimes it may feel like being in a 747 Jumbo jet after some tragedy has befallen the flight crew & you have been chosen to fly the plane,though you have no experience.The guy on the ground is talking to you on the radio,& says"It's really so easy.All you have to do is land the plane".There used to be a bumper sticker years ago.It said "God is my co-pilot".I saw that,& I thought like probably millions of others how good that sounded.The problem was later explained to me (yeah...I am that slow) God never asked to be co-pilot.He knows in the wisdom that only a creator can have that He "needs to take the wheel".Fine we say.Here is the wheel.Please take it Lord.And yet we open our eyes & we are still in the seat & the 747 still needs to land.What now? There was a time in the Old testament when a King named Jehoshaphat (I know....why did his mom & dad give him a funny name like that?) This King loved the Lord,but circumstances came that were truly life & death.You are probably tired of my babbling by now,so lets see what God had to say about it in His word.
1After this, the Moabites and Ammonites with some of the Meunites came to make war on Jehoshaphat.
2Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, “A vast army is coming against you from Edom,b from the other side of the Sea.c It is already in Hazazon Tamar” (that is, En Gedi). 3Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. 4The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him.
Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of the Lord in the front of the new courtyard and said:
“O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you.O our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your Name, saying,
‘If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.’
“But now here are men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, whose territory you would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt; so they turned away from them and did not destroy them.See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance.O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you.”
I love the last sentence in this passage form 2nd Chronicles chapter 20."We do not know what to do,but our eyes are on you."
The King did these things.1)He reminded God (really he reminded himself)who God is.
“O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you"
2) He reminded God (actually he reminded himself) of what God had done in the past.
"O our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?"
3)He reminded God of His word (more about this later)
"They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your Name, saying,‘If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.’"
4) He told God about the situation.
“But now here are men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, whose territory you would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt; so they turned away from them and did not destroy them.See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance.O our God, will you not judge them?
5)By faith,He left it in God's hand.
"For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you.”
Back at step 3,where the king reminded God of His word,what Jehoshaphat remembered was a passage that we are familiar with (at least we are familiar with part of it).It was when God was speaking to Solomon just after the dedication of the temple.The passage is 2nd Chronicles 7,verses 11 through 16,& you might go read that.The verse we are familiar with is verse 14
"if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
If you will read the rest of 2nd Chronicles 20,you will find out what God did,& I encourage you to do so.
There was a song written many years ago that is titled "The Master's Hand" sung by Annie Herring.It is often confused by it's title with "The Touch of the Master's Hand",but that is another song. Some of the lyrics in the song go like this:
"When I start to waiver
I look upon my past
And there I find His favor
I am not downcast
For He's taught me to walk by faith
Whenever storms arise
To look to and seek His face
Watch the dark clouds rise". The next line is this:
"By holding to the Master's hand".
Now you are saying "that is all well & good,but I am still in this seat & we still need to land & we are running out of fuel."
Want to know the truth? The truth is I cannot tell you what to do next.There are things you can do.You can move that yoke in your hand.You can move those 4 engine throttles in the center console.You can move those rudder pedals with your feet.And you can listen.There is that voice coming over the radio with instructions.You can listen to that voice.You can do your best to follow the instructions given by that voice.Or....what?".
When you have done all that you can do,& it is not enough, & the armies of Moab & Ammon are coming for you,& it's obvious they are not coming for a neighborly chat,Do what Jehoshaphat did.In so doing,you will put your hand in His,& He will lead you to safety & to rest.God bless you