365 Days with God - Day 117: Returning and Rest

I'm giving myself a challenge. Read the Bible each day for a whole year, following the ESV Study Guide 1-year plan. Each day, I will post whatever God has revealed to me in His Word, and how it is changing me. A friend of mine once said that nothing has changed her life as much as reading the bible each day - and I'm excited for how this will change me. Join me on an adventure into the heart of God - and day by day, we can learn more about who He is and what that means to us!

- Andy Catts

Day 117, April 16, 2014

Readings: Psalm 117, Leviticus 23, Isaiah 29:1-24, Isaiah 30:1-17, Ephesians 2

I am action-oriented. If you have been around me much, you know that when a problem arises I'm usually the first to ask how we're going to solve it. This also factors into what I do when faced with a crisis...I tend to do first and ask questions later.

But when I take action immediately, I am automatically assuming that I've got the answer, or it is my job to provide an answer. There's no trust involved, I've moved past the point of waiting on others and I'm now completely reliant on myself. Who's missing from that picture?

For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel,
"In returning and rest you shall be saved;
in quietness and in trust shall be your strength."
But you were unwilling, and you said,
"No! We will flee upon horses";
therefore you shall flee away;
and, "We will ride upon swift steeds";
therefore your pursuers shall be swift.
A thousand shall flee at the threat of one;
at the threat of five you shall flee,
till you are left
like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain, like a signal on a hill. (Isaiah 30: 15-17)

Seems as if Israel had the same problem. Rather than trust God by resting (doesn't that sound like the exact opposite of a crisis?!) they choose to trust in "swift steeds." They choose to rush. To stress out. To work hard over nothing ("a thousand flee at the threat of one")! And they are left alone.

It is so easy to be stressed. To go crazy. To want to rush, provide my own answers and not trust in the Lord, but in my own abilities and resources. But God says I will be saved through returning to him and by resting. How counter-intuitive.  How unlike me to believe that "in quietness and trust shall be your strength." But God says it is so.

What a different place I would be in if I was willing to trust in God instead of stress about doing it myself. If I rested in quietness. Man. That sounds awesome. That sounds amazing. That sounds like the kind of thing I would ask of God - that He would make it possible for me to be rested and quiet during the chaos. And he delivers!