23 Trinity – Thursday

Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.  – Psalm 37:7

My dear Christian, you know that sometimes the sea that bears your life’s fragile skiff runs very high in consequence of a heavy storm.  Everything seems tumultuous and hopelessly out of control.  The tempest roars; the waves and the billows rise; and your little boat is threatened with destruction.  By your own reason and strength you cannot plot and direct your course; according to human wisdom and might your life is a disaster waiting to happen.  You feel like Peter when he took his eyes off his Savior, succumbed to fear of the boisterous wind, and began to sink (Matthew 14:30).  You see nothing but destruction ahead.  What then, “O ye of little faith”?  Without the light of His Word as your beacon in the darkness (Psalm 119:105), without His rebuke of life’s storm (Matthew 8:26), and without the God-wrought faith that clings to Him as your Redeemer and to His promises (Isaiah 43:1-3a), there is nothing but despair!  It is then, dear trembling child of God, that you cry out, as does a child suffering a terrifying nightmare: “Lord, help me!” (Matthew 15:25).  You hold your dear heavenly Father, your ever-present Savior, and His indwelling Spirit to your God’s own word of promise:  “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5b).  You know from the assurance of His Word that the Lord loves you, that He is with you, that He cares for you, and that He promises to protect you!  Then “rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.”  Put away from you all fleshly anxiety, doubts and misgivings; “lean not unto thine own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5); but rest in the Lord, waiting patiently for Him.  In each and every trouble commit your way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass (Psalm 37:5).  When your enemies, the wicked, unjustly condemn and persecute you, then be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might (Ephesians 6:10).  Rest in Him, and wait patiently for Him.  In His own best time and in His own best way, He promises: “I will deliver thee” (Psalm 50:15).  “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will, with the temptation, also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (I Corinthians 10:13).  “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him!”

PRAYER – Dearest heavenly Father, who didst not spare Thine only-begotten Son but didst deliver Him up for us all, how shalt Thou not with Him also freely give me all things?  Thou art my Rock and my Fortress, my Deliverer, my God, my Strength in whom I will trust, my Buckler, the Horn of my salvation and my High Tower (Psalm 18:2).  In Thee, O Lord, do I put my trust.  Deliver me in Thy righteousness.  Let me never be ashamed to own Thee for Thy great mercy’s sake in Christ Jesus, my Savior.  In every time of trouble, cause me to rest my hope of deliverance on Thee; and let Thy holy angel be with me, that the wicked foe may have no power over me.   Amen.

Hymn 520, 1