After all these years of walking with the Lord you'd think I'd have learned a lesson or two that doesn't have to be repeated. Not so.
The Lord has a way of giving me some practice tests on the subjects I teach before or after I actually teach them.
Last week I was teaching from Matt. 11:28-30: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
I was so enamored with the original Hebrew meanings of the word "rest", mentioned in v. 28 and again in v. 30. In verse 28 it means: "refreshment" but in v. 30, it means, "a rest FROM something - an intermission". Wow, I was blown away!
Jesus wants us to come to Him when we're weary and burdened so he can give us REFRESHMENT - like a cold shower on a hot day, or a drink of water when we're thirsty. And He also wants us to take His yoke on ourselves and learn from Him how to carry it so we can experience a "SOUL INTERMISSION" from the things that burden us because He's helping us carry it.
I finished delivering those profound thoughts (not mine, but God's) in the late morning and by early afternoon God must have thought, "Let me see if Dot really learned that for herself". A situation arose where I had the perfect opportunity to experience REST in both forms - but I chose NOT to take it. I completely forgot about what I'd taught and just gave in to the upset. Duh!
I wish I could say that it didn't last long. No. I just kept on keeping on long into Wednesday, complaining to all and sundry (except the Lord, of course), and they were very kind and did not just let me have it.
On Wednesday afternoon I got a response to an e mail that had dealt indirectly with my original issue - it was God's awesome and amazing answer to a prayer I'd been praying for a year! It took me a while to see it, but if I had only waited one day, all that upsetment I'd been feeling would never have happened because the answer to my prayer was the resolution of the issue! I was ashamed before the Lord that I wasted a day fretting and didn't just trust that He had things well in hand.
And guess what? The entire situation reminded me exactly of the lesson I'm teaching THIS Tuesday. It's from 1 Kings 19. The prophet Elijah had just seen God perform the amazing miracle of making a fool of the prophets of the false god Baal by sending down fire on His altar (with no help from Elijah) and burning up everything in sight - proving that He indeed WAS God and Baal was decidedly NOT.
So, what does Elijah do? Run out and celebrate, worship and praise the Lord??? No. He hears that Jezebel is out to get him and forgetting completely about the power of the God He worships, he becomes afraid, takes off, and throws himself a pity party (this begins to sound VERY familiar to me). He prays that he might die and then he says, "I have had enough, LORD, take my life."
He complains to God that he's been very zealous for Him but all to no avail. The Israelites have rejected God's covenant, broken down His altars, and put His prophets to death with the sword and if that isn't enough, Elijah is the only one left and they're out to kill him.
What does God do? A number of things. I have always loved this part, because while Elijah is complaining from his very narrow view of things - God has all along been sovereignly active behind the scenes. Working miracles and carrying out His own view of things. If only Elijah had had the faith to believe that (ditto for me).
First God reveals HIMSELF to Elijah - not in a big, flashy way - but with His still small voice. How I wish I'd listened to God's still small voice when He was trying to say: "Let it go, Dot, I've got it covered." If only I'd believed that BEFORE my meltdown.
Then, after giving Elijah another opportunity to give in to self pity, the Lord gently gives him several reasons to be encouraged:
#1 God was at work fulfilling His plan and it would be Elijah's job to anoint those who would carry it out.
#2 And, what must have been the sweetest encouragement to his worn out prophet - he wasn't alone. God had 7000 others who remained true to the worship of the true God of Israel.
I don't like failing God's faith tests, but I'm thankful for those pop quizzes because they humble me. And I tend to be a little quicker to auto correct (under the direction and power of the Holy Spirit!) then I was when I first believed. Credit to the God who saved me!
I'm teaching again on Tuesday! Whatever the pop quiz will be, this week I want to respond with FAITH! That will be the BEST encouragement!
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