Best ≠ Rest
I was struck by the personification my friend and overcomer used to describe Satan in one of her recent articles, (https://www.namb.net/flourish-blog/the-danger-in-entertaining-lies?). She painted a picture of how we often invite him in to sit on our couch and give us his opinion, instead of banishing him with truth the way Jesus did. She says, “I have often asked to hear more of what Satan has to say. I have mulled his words over in my mind and considered them in my heart.” Her article left me with a looming question, “What lies am I entertaining?”
The lie of the enemy God exposed in my thinking was:
“You’ll find rest when you find what’s best.”
All of my anxious fretting and inner turmoil will come to a halting screech when I figure out what is “best” in all the areas of my life. Bells will ring and the angelic choirs will sing when I’ve discover the perfect balance and rhythm and proportion to each area of my life. The reason true inner rest eludes me is because I’ve yet to find the magic combination of all of life’s best. The best way to school my children, the best sports teams, the best way to spend our money, the best book to read, the best Bible study to offer, the best time to hold our next event, the best way to spend our vacation, the best schedule, the best way to organize, the best food to buy. Best, Best, Best. Our world is full of ads, articles, and opinions of what is best. Those of us who are moms, deciding on behalf of other humans, feel the pressure of finding and choosing best more than in any other time in our lives.
This lie that “finding the best will give us rest”, is a double edged sword of a lie because on the other side is always the fear of “what if this isn’t best?” I’ve always been one of those girls that wants the most bang for the buck. Suck the marrow out of life kind of girl, but with that way of living comes the worry of “what if this isn’t the best?” What if I wasted that money, the time, the energy, or that opportunity on the wrong thing? What if I made the wrong choice? I drive my husband mad with this one, wanting to talk all angles of choice over and over trying to assure myself that we’re making the best choice. This is the place I mull the enemy’s words over and consider his whispering doubts. He has me at a stand still I either freeze in panic and procrastinate making any choice at all in fear that I’ll make the wrong one, or I make a choice but listen to his taunts of how I screwed up and got it wrong again.
The truth of the matter is that we can’t fully play out all the details of a choice until we have tried it. We have to rest in God’s sovereignty over our lives and the lives of our children. We have to rest in knowing that if we are seeking God in our decisions that He’ll be with us and guide us. We have to rest in knowing that even if our choice doesn’t play out the way we thought it would that it wasn’t a waste because God is using it to teach us and draw us to Himself. Rest does not come from figuring out all the bests. God’s word says rest comes from him.
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” Matt 11:28-29
“Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” Mark 6:31
“It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working… for God gives rest to his loved ones.” Psalms 127:2
“My presence will go with you and I will give you rest.” Ex 33:4
My rest is not in finding best, but in going to the Father who knows what is best. He knows what is best for working out his good plan in my life and in the lives of my children. My rest is in trusting Him. My rest is in going to Him by myself in quiet. My rest is in His presence. No wonder the enemy’s lie has been so loud he’s just been trying to keep me from the true source of rest just like he has done from the beginning. Tempting Adam and Eve to trade the rest of relationship and intimacy with God for what he sold to them as best, power and knowledge.
2016/08/19 at 6:41 pm