21 May 2013 - be prepared

21 May 2013 - be prepared

My son, when you come to serve the LORD,
stand in justice and fear,
prepare yourself for trials.

Doesn't the LORD promise to give us rest if we come to him?  But here he warns us about preparing for trials.  Aren't these contradictory promises?

Be sincere of heart and steadfast,
incline your ear and receive the word of understanding,
undisturbed in time of adversity.

The LORD doesn't ultimately give us rest through circumstances.  He doesn't necessarily tweak individual details of our lives until we are comfortable and have exactly what we want.  If we want the rest that the LORD gives we can't hold anything back.  We have all experienced that when we keep control over our lives we still face times of adversity in spite of our best efforts.  But when the LORD is in control we can face such times without being disturbed.

If we try to keep control over our lives we are ultimately like the disciples who "had been discussing among themselves on the way who was the greatest. "  We'll be interested in what we can get out of discipleship.  We will never have happiness because we will always be defining that as something other than God himself.  And that definition is wrong.

Has anyone persevered in his commandments and been forsaken? 
has anyone called upon him and been rebuffed?

Certainly it seems that way at times, but it is because are holding on to our own definitions.  The blessedness of the just is the LORD himself.  And he gives himself without measure to those who seek him.

The LORD watches over the lives of the wholehearted;
their inheritance lasts forever.

We need to be completely available to his plans for us.  In accepting them we find that we receive the LORD himself.


“Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me;
and whoever receives me,
receives not me but the One who sent me.”