REST AT LAST!

Rest at Last!

"Blessed is the man[whose] . . . delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. . . . And whatever he does shall prosper." -Psalm 1:1-3, Emphasis added
Why is meditating upon the Word so very important? Meditation brings us immediately into the intimate presence of God. Few are willing to pay the price, but for those who do, the rewards are great!
I believe Mrs. Nguyen Thi An (name changed) learned the art of fleeing to Jesus as her Refuge in weariness. She is a glorious example of how to live contentedly and victoriously for Christ-regardless of the circumstances. Though she has lost everything, she has all things in One. Her husband, her home, and her belongings were all taken away, yet the Vietnamese could not take her contentment.
Mrs. An's husband was a pastor in Vietnam. When police closed their church, he was thrown into prison. Without official papers, she and her children were evicted from their apartment, but her faith forged a sanctuary out of her surroundings, from which she greets us:
My Dear Friends,
. . . You know around here we are experiencing hardships, but we thank the Lord He is comforting us and caring for us in every way. When we experience misfortune, adversity, distress and hardship, only then do we see the real blessing of the Lord poured down on us in such a way that we cannot contain it.
We have been obliged recently to leave our modest apartment and for over two months have been living on a balcony. The rain has been beating down and soaking us. Sometimes in the middle of the night we are forced to gather our blankets and run to seek refuge in a stairwell.
Do you know what I do then? I laugh and I praise the Lord, because we can still take shelter in the stairwell. I think of how many people are experiencing much worse hardships than I am. Then I remember the words of the Lord, "To the poor, O Lord, You are a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat" (cp. Isaiah 25:4), and I am greatly comforted....
Our Father . . . is the One who according to the Scriptures does not break the bruised reed nor put out the flickering lamp. He is the One who looks after the orphan and the widow. He is the One who brings blessings and peace to numberless people.
I do not know what words to use in order to describe the love that the Lord has shown our family. I only can bow my knee and my heart and offer to the Lord words of deepest thanks and praise. Although we have lost our house and our possessions, we have not lost the Lord, and He is enough. With the Lord I have everything. The only thing I would fear losing is His blessing!
Could I ask you and our friends in the churches abroad to continue to pray for me that I will faithfully follow the Lord and serve Him regardless of what the circumstances may be? As far as my husband is concerned, I was able to visit him this past summer. We had a 20-minute conversation that brought us great joy....
I greet you with my love.
Mrs. Nguyen Thi An
Learn from Mrs. An's wonderful example of how to live contentedly and victoriously in Christ. And then flee on your own to Jesus as your eternal and secure Refuge!
Make a Choice to Live in Hope:I pray that you have made the choice to live in hope by giving your all to God, giving God what is His in this life, and committing to learn how to live contentedly and victoriously for Christ! May God, through the Holy Spirit, grant the empowerment to embrace as a lifestyle 1 Timothy 6's seven keys to biblical contentment:

1.            Remember that things are only temporary (vv. 6-7).

2.           Only seek necessities-wait for the rest (v. 8).

3.           Avoid a consuming desire for prosperity (vv. 9-10).

4.           Flee materialism (v. 11).

5.            Cling to eternal life (vv. 12-16).

6.           Fix your hope on God (v. 17).

7.            Give until it hurts (v. 18).

As you follow the above path faithfully, you will experience Jesus' peace that passes understanding.

Enjoying Jesus-Your Refuge From Weariness

Fleeing to Jesus as your Refuge will help you have the genuine expectancy of God's presence. A knowledge of God through His Word ought to heighten your expectations and instill healthy fear and reverence. As Annie Dillard wrote: "On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the Catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? . . . It is madness to wear ladies' straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return.


Fleeing to Jesus as your Refuge will help you preserve your experience of the depths of God in your life. How can you preserve your heart for the Lord's Day? Edith Schaeffer tells how, when living in Villars, Switzerland, the church bells would toll every Saturday at 4:30 P.M. as a reminder to prepare for the Lord's Day. The bells were ignored by most but were a poignant reminder of a more enlightened day.
Is Christ like a "city of refuge" to you? Do you find Him easy to reach? Are His arms open to you? Do you see His entrance as never locked, and that He is a completely sufficient Refuge? Do you see that there is no other hope but Him? Then He is your blessed Refuge!
How can you start cultivating the practice of fleeing to Christ's promised refuge for the weary? Jesus demonstrated that as being our priority, but where do we start? We simply begin by making it a precious habit to read God's Word every day. No Bible-no breakfast; no Bible-no bed.
Rest for your soul comes most readily by reading God's Word. This is the voice of God, and we must listen. No Christian can lead a Spirit-filled life full of power without regularly reading the Bible. Our minds are such that we do not retain what we need to know. They need to be refreshed again and again-which includes memorizing and meditating upon God's Word regularly!

Stewardship: Giving to God Without Reservation

"For they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood." - Mark 12:44, emphasis added
The people closest to Christ gave up all they had and followed Him. One might say, "That is the apostles, not us." Such thinking is why the church is not conquering the world anymore. When has it ever done that? In the nineteenth century, through the ministry of the Cambridge Seven (C.T. Studd and friends), many students chose to give up careers in England and move to mission fields at the farthest corners of the world. They gave up their ownership of things. Through their sacrifices, the gospel went to every corner of the planet in about thirty years because England was touched with such dedicated stewardship.
A Biblical View of Tithing: "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices-mint, dill, and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law-justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former" (Matthew 23:23, NIV). Jesus said tithing was proper, and thus relevant to us. Admittedly, tithing is nowhere specifically commanded in the New Testament, since that is not the genius of God's method under grace. Instead of legislating regulations, Jesus enunciated principles by which His disciples were to regulate their conduct. "I am not commanding you" were Paul's words. He knew that a lavish hand without a loving heart was valueless.
The patriarchs practiced tithing four hundred years before the Law was given (Genesis 14:20; 28:22 . The usage of consecrated tithes prevailed among Romans, Greeks, and Arabians as well as with the Jews; so tithing seems to rest on the common law of God's kingdom rather than on special Hebrew legislation. Jesus Himself gave tithes and offerings. Is the servant greater than his Lord?
W. A. Criswell (1909 -2002), the great expository teacher for many years at First Baptist Dallas, tells the story about the pastor who was asked, "How many church members do you have?" The answer was, "One hundred fifty." The pastor was further asked, "How many of them are tithers?" The pastor replied, "One hundred fifty." In astonishment the inquirer exclaimed, "What! All one hundred fifty, the entire church, are tithers?" "Yes indeed," said the pastor. "About fifty of them bring the tithe to the storehouse, and God collects it from the rest." In the end "we do not cheat God," concludes Dr. Criswell. "I can either give it to Him in a deeply spiritual act of worship, or He can collect it. In either case, God gets His own."[3]
What does God truly want from us? Since no one has ever seen the Father, we need to listen to Jesus, who said: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment" (Matthew 22:37-38).
And Jesus has said that if we love Him, we will obey Him-and that includes how we handle His money, His possessions, and His time!

An Impossible Standard?

Many women, and men, too, avoid studying Proverbs 31:10-31 because they think it presents an unrealistic and unattainable standard for women. I can’t tell you how many articles I have read that describe this lady as ‘superwoman’ and, therefore, not applicable for the average female.
But would God really put a job description in His Word if it were unattainable? Surely our knowledge of Him says the description of the woman of noble character was placed in the Scriptures to encourage us, male and female. It’s for our edification; there is much we can learn from it about becoming wise women.
Proverbs is a textbook on wise living. The phrase “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” is found 14 times in Proverbs and notably, the book closes with a flesh-and-blood example of one whose whole life has been given to the pursuit of wisdom—the Proverbs 31 woman. She demonstrates in daily life that wisdom is not an esoteric idea dispensed to learners; it is living in wise ways, living in harmony with God’s creation and His laws. Wisdom is right living, good decisions, and honorable choices.
The poem opens with the idea that a wise woman—one who fears the Lord—is valuable, though quite rare. And she is worth the search! For when found, she will be of the highest personal character and fiscally responsible. She is described in verse 10 as being of “noble character” and “worth far more than rubies.” Verses 11-12 speak of her financial savvy. Her husband has “full confidence” in her and “lacks nothing of value.” Those are monetary words. And so are these: “she brings him good, not harm.” She not only guards the family assets; she also brings in a significant amount of income. She’s a moneymaker!
The first major section of the poem, verses 13-19, delineates how hard this woman works to provide for her family and to earn income. It’s arranged in a chiastic structure, with ideas leading up to the main idea and then backing away with parallel ideas. Kinda like the way my sister and I communicate. If you hear us talking, you may be confused—we give each other an idea, and then another and maybe one more before we finally get to the main point. Then we back out, repeating our ideas as we go. That is what the chiasm does.
So as we work our way in and out the chiasm, we see that the wise woman works hard to provide and to bring in income for her family. She works hard with wool and flax (verse 13), using the distaff and spindle (verse 19), tools that enabled her to make the sheep’s fleece into woolen thread and the flax plant into linen so they could then be woven into fabrics. Wool, of course, was the winter fabric, snuggly guarding its wearer against the chill. And linen was the comfortable, breathable cloth for warm summer time.
She plans and trades, using her resources well and bringing profit from her endeavors (verses 14 & 18). And she works vigorously at all she does—rising early—using the strength of her body to finish her tasks (verses 15 & 17).
All this is done to turn a profit so she can invest the money in a vineyard; this is the climax of the chiasm in verse 16. She buys a property she has been eyeing—one that would bring grapes, wine, and income to her family.
As this first section of this beautiful poem ends, we see a younger woman, intent on blessing her family with her skills by acquiring wealth for her husband and herself. It reminds me of our early marriage. My ‘vineyard’ was a public school where I taught to provide for our family of two while my husband pursued his seminary degree and two doctorates. The investment I made in his education has blessed us financially for many years since because he has had options for ways to support our growing family. Both of us look back with joy on the years that I supported our family.
In the next section we learn what the woman who fears the Lord does with the profit from all her hard work and planning. Yes, it has taken her a number of years to get here, but now she has wealth and wisdom and she uses it to bless others, in verses 20-27. She has accumulated much, not to be greedy, but so that she can give it to others. She has, not only wealth to give, but she also has wisdom to give. The point of this second section, which is also a chiasm, is that this the kind of woman who brings honor to her husband. He is known in town as “noble woman’s lucky husband.”
Again, we see the corresponding ideas as we work to and from the central point. The first idea is that she gives—of her wealth to the poor and of her wisdom to those who need it (verses 20 & 26-27). To the poor, she is benevolent, actively involving herself for the needy in her community. To her household, she gives wisdom laced with kindness. She wisely watches over her household, ruling it with kindness. These two endearing qualities are the hallmark of her mature years—she is benevolent and she is kind.
She faces the future with confidence in verses 21 and 26; she has provided for her family, as fully as she can, for predictable essentials (the children will grow and will need new clothes for school) and unforeseen events (while it snows only rarely in Jerusalem, her household is prepared for it). She does not fear the future. She goes into old age smiling with confidence in her God.
She continues to use her talents to enrich the family as she trades the quilts and linen garments that are manufactured in her household (verses 22 and 24).
And her greatest gift is to her husband, because the respect she has earned in their community brings honor to her husband when he meets with the leaders of the township. They are well aware of her contributions and her talent for making money. They recognize that she is a kind and benevolent woman who has blessed their entire community. He receives reflected honor from her achievements, though he has achievements of his own as a leader in the community.
The poem concludes with her rightful receiving of the love and respect from her family in verses 28-31. They have observed this woman in all the seasons of her life and they give her praise and bless her. This probably didn’t happen when her children were small. So, those of you with small children, don’t hold your breath! But as the children grew up, they realized what she had done for them and they expressed appreciation. Some of you reading this may need to make a phone call or write a letter to your mom to tell her how glad you are for the good job she did. It will encourage her to hear that from you.
The author concludes by noting that all of this didn’t just randomly happen; this was a life lived in fearing the Lord. The woman of noble character shows us what it looks like to live a life of wisdom, from the beginning of adulthood to the end. She is the embodiment of wisdom, right living.
And she is in the Scriptures as an example, and an encouragement to us 21^st century women, that we might fear the Lord and live as wise women.

Wait until morning

I cringed as I tightened the straps that would hold the brace securely around my body for the night. Several weeks earlier, a doctor had detected the curve in my spine that identified me as a teen with scoliosis. Every night for the next year, I would wear a special brace that was designed to “fix” me.
The hard, plastic shell encased my torso from armpit to hip. At each point where my back naturally curved, the brace curved in the opposite direction, forcing my spine into a straight line. The edges of the foam-coated plastic dug into my sides and bruised my hips, and the constricting walls around my ribs prevented me from breathing deeply. I felt trapped. But the physical discomfort was nothing compared to seeing myself in the mirror. The brace exposed what I could otherwise ignore: I was imperfect and deformed.
Tears blurred my vision, and I began to feel like a victim of injustice. Wasn’t I “fearfully and wonderfully made” and “intricately woven in the depths of the earth” (Psa 139:14–15)? Why hadn’t God, who took such meticulous care in creation, created a spine for me that would stand straight? If I were precious to Him, why would He allow me to suffer?
It was tempting to question God or to dismiss Him as some far-away puppeteer who didn’t understand the reality of pain. But I knew that Christ had suffered; the extent of His anguish made my curved back and year of discomfort appear laughable. Yet, I hoped God would understand that hardships can be faith shaking.
Revelation confirmed this hope: “Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold fast [to] what you have” (Rev 3:10–11). Christ understands the temptation to question Him in times of struggle. But He also commends His followers when they keep the faith while suffering. He tells us to endure our struggles with patience.
The first time I wore my brace, the night felt never-ending. Every position revealed a new tinge of pain and the memory of my bent reflection sparked doubt. Time ticked by, measured in tosses and turns. But eventually I began to understand that patiently enduring was only half the answer.
Revelation 7:16–17 provides hope in the midst of trial: “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Ultimately, my physical distress would come to an end. The morning always came, and when that prescribed year was over, I threw away the brace for good. It was a small reminder of Christ’s promise: eventually, all suffering will end. In the meantime, our job is this: keep the faith, patiently endure hardship, and wait until morning.