April 13th - Reading 11: Psalms 36-37

“Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.” (Psalm 37:7a)

Sometimes we can read something without it really registering in our hearts and minds. “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him” can be one of those phrases. We can glance at it and say, “Yes, I agree.” But what does it look like to rest in Him and wait patiently for Him?

There is much going on in the world around us that can cause us to be restless. Things are uncertain; people are unreliable; we feel vulnerable, unprotected. We don’t know what the future holds and we don’t like that feeling of not being in control. But the truth is that even when things felt certain, when we felt we could rely on people and we felt protected and secure, we weren’t any more in control that we are right now. We just felt like we had control. People have had their lives turned upside in the blink of an eye since time began.

David tells us that fretting and worrying about our circumstances only causes us harm (Psalm 37:8). Instead, he tells us to rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him. What David is saying is to get our eyes off our circumstances (which are always beyond our control), and lift our focus to the Lord (who is always in control).

David goes on to tell us how to keep that perspective: he says to wait patiently. He knows better than to just tell us to wait. How impatient we can be in the waiting! And how disturbing that impatience is to our peace.

So, as we read these Psalms to the Lord today and fervently intercede, let’s choose to rest in Him, casting all our care on Him, because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). And let’s choose to rest in the protection He offers to our hearts and minds as we take refuge under the shadow of His wings (Psalm 36:7).