Oh, Rest in the Lord

It’s good to have Scripture memorized, and even better to have it come back to your mind through song.

I felt bone-tired on Saturday evening. I’d been going great guns all day. Truth be told, I’d been going great guns all week and I was tired in every sense of the word. My mind was tired. There are, at present, many responsibilities crowding in on me, and so many things to think about. There are details to iron out and decisions to be made. There are questions I have no answers for. There is an endless pile of work that I can never seem to get done. There is fatigue that comes on after my mind has been working away to come up with solutions to problems and not solving any of them. There are the many cries for help I send up to God at all hours of the day, and the many worries underneath everything that threaten to reach up, grab me by the ankle and pull me under. Resting in the Lord. It’s such a phrase of beauty, such an attractive prospect. Saturday night, I was wondering why it was so hard to actually do it.

Instead of caving to my weariness that day, I had filled my mind with God’s word while I went about my household projects and chores. Thank God for sermonaudio.com! Every sermon is like an hourly meditation on God’s word. Then I sat down to write, that evening, and my load of care came back with a rush. I shook my head to myself, wondering if it was because I was such a rotten Christian, overly-tired, a female, or all of the above. Just about then, a song that I’ve taught to a couple of voice students came to my mind. It’s from the oratorio, Elijah, by Felix Mendelssohn and features Psalm 37:7. I’m sure the words are familiar to you, “Oh, rest in the Lord. Wait patiently for him, and he shall give thee thy heart’s desires.”

There was a wealth of things to learn from that small handful of words. Things like: rest only comes when I stop trying to control everything. Or that answers to prayer don’t always come right away and waiting on Him is required–specifically, patient waiting. That my heart’s desires may need an overhaul if its desires are not something God can righteously give. But I think the most encouraging thing about the incident was that those particular words attached to that tune spontaneously came to my mind when I most needed them. The wisdom behind God’s commands to hide His word in our hearts was evident to me.

So, I thought that today, I would share the song with you in the hopes that it would prove to be a blessing now and perhaps in the future.