I
listened this morning to this portion of Handel’s Messiah:
“He
shall feed his flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and
carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are
with young. . . . Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me;
for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For
my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (from Isaiah 40:11 and
Matthew 11:28-29)
The
words came to me in the middle of my unrest over what is happening all around
me. Fear. And hatred. Unquenchable, murderous hatred. And demonic laced lies about
it all from the tongues of those in politics, the media, the churches, the educational
institutions, from our neighbors, and even in families.
It
is in that context that I sat in my regular chair to spend time with Jesus and
listened to those comforting words of Scripture.
And
they reminded me, Jesus is not dead. He is alive, radiant, powerful, majestic, omnipotent.
And by His Holy Spirit is with me. And He is with you who love Him.
Right
now. Wherever it is that you are reading this, if you love Him, He is with you.
And like a gentle shepherd, He will feed you. And me.
He
will feed us and nourish us from His holy Scriptures. He will provide us water
to satisfy our thirst, milk and meat to satisfy our hunger. Calm and confidence
to soothe our unrest.
He
gathers us – all of us who belong to Him – and He carries us close to His
chest. He embraces us and – as we carefully listen and obey – He leads us through
this cold, bitter, and very dangerous world.
But
we must come to Him like needy sheep if we want calm for our roiling souls. We
must come every day. Several times a day, as often as we need to come. We must
take His yoke – it is an easy one, but a yoke, nonetheless. And we must take His
burden – it is an easy one, but a burden, nonetheless. There is no other way in
this angry, agitated, and mean-spirited world to find rest.
St.
Augustine said it well: God has made us for Himself, and our hearts are restless
until they find their rest in Him.
No comments:
Post a Comment