Doing my Best and Trusting God for the Rest
A lot of Christians are trying – yes, we are very trying! We want to serve God and to help others but it’s hard sometimes! There are so many conflicting demands on our time and energy. Our own needs and weakness can get in the way. People are not always willing to receive what we have to offer so we can’t help the way we’d like. Then there are the times when we don’t know how to help! What do we do then?
The other night when a toothache was keeping me up, I spent a little time mulling that one over. That’s when I decided that the only thing God expects of me is to do my best. After that, all I can do is trust him for the rest.
There’s a double meaning in that word “rest”. I need to trust God for the rest of it – the stuff I can’t handle, the stuff I have no business trying to handle, the stuff I can no longer handle. Then there’s all the stuff that I simply don’t understand. Sometimes it’s easy to see God’s hand – in a glorious worship service, in an awesome sunset, in a baby’s first cry, in the fervent “I do”s of a wedding, sometimes, even in the heartfelt grief at a funeral. Sometimes you can see God’s justice easily – when people reap what they sow, when the bad are punished and the good are rewarded. Then there are a whole lot of other times when I just don’t get it, when I just don’t understand. That’s when I need to remember Isaiah 55:8-9: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” To me that simply means this: I don’t have to understand. I’m not expected to understand. I just have to trust that God is at work. That’s faith.
There’s a double meaning in that word “rest”. I need to trust God for the rest of it – the stuff I can’t handle, the stuff I have no business trying to handle, the stuff I can no longer handle. Then there’s all the stuff that I simply don’t understand. Sometimes it’s easy to see God’s hand – in a glorious worship service, in an awesome sunset, in a baby’s first cry, in the fervent “I do”s of a wedding, sometimes, even in the heartfelt grief at a funeral. Sometimes you can see God’s justice easily – when people reap what they sow, when the bad are punished and the good are rewarded. Then there are a whole lot of other times when I just don’t get it, when I just don’t understand. That’s when I need to remember Isaiah 55:8-9: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” To me that simply means this: I don’t have to understand. I’m not expected to understand. I just have to trust that God is at work. That’s faith.
The other part of trusting God for the rest means trusting Him to supply the peace and rest that I need. That means that I can – and must – take a rest! I need to take time out and simply be with God. I need to do as Jesus invites me in Matthew 11:28: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
There’s always more work waiting to be done. But there’s a time to let it go and to choose rest. As the saying goes, “Let go and let God.”
Pastor Mary
