I. The Word:
28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls. For My yoke is wholesome (useful,good—not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing, but comfortable, gracious, and pleasant), and My burden is light and easy to be borne.
Matthew 11:28-30 AMPC
But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides. So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own. Sufficient for each day is its own trouble.
Matthew 6:33-34 AMPC
God, I invite your searching gaze into my heart.
Examine me through and through;
find out everything that may be hidden within me.
Put me to the test and sift through all my anxious cares.
See if there is any path of pain I’m walking on,
and lead me back to your glorious, everlasting ways—
the path that brings me back to you.
Psalm 139:23-24 (The Passion Translation)
II. Study Questions
-
Do you suffer from anxiety?
-
What are some things that cause you to be anxious?
-
How do you think the Lord wants you to address that anxiety?
Recently when I was praying with a friend on Sunday morning at a prayer meeting before service, I distinctly heard the Lord tell me before entering into prayer “I want you to repent of anxiety.”
I thought this was kind of strange because I didn’t even realize I was anxious, but before I started praying for the requests, I just took a moment to release all my cares to the Lord and repent for allowing those anxious cares to guide my daily decisions.
Instantly, I felt a renewed sense of peace flood my mind and really felt like I was now walking in step with the Holy Spirit. In the service, Pastor Chris preached on time management and even talked about the anxiety of all things!
I don’t think this is any coincidence. One thing I am constantly fighting against is the mindset of a hurry. I determined a little while ago that I would rather be way behind God and still be following Him than to jump out ahead of God and go my own way. In order to do this, I have to make a conscious decision to slow down in life.
That may seem anticlimactic in this fast-paced world we live in today, but in a lot of ways hurry actually causes delay. St. Vincent de Paul said, “He who is in a hurry delays the things of God.” A classic biblical example is when Abraham took matters into his own hands and had a son with his servant Hagar to “help” God fulfill His promise to him and wife Sarah (Genesis 16). Or when King Saul hastily disobeyed the Lord’s instruction to wipe out the Amalekites because he was afraid of not having a good approval rating among the people (1 Samuel 15).
Both Abraham and King Saul paid dearly in grappling with the consequences of these hasty decisions. Another example is Moses. Although Moses grew up as a prince of Egypt, he related to his fellow Israelites and sympathized with their plight. Upon witnessing an Egyptian mistreating a Hebrew slave, Moses murdered the Egyptian and fled to Midian. He then spent 40 years in the desert, thinking he missed out on God’s plan for his life–all because he didn’t wait for God’s instruction to free his people.
I think the main reason why hurry leads to delaying the things of God is because the people who are hurrying are ultimately assuming God’s role in bringing His promises to pass. Only God can miraculously bring a child to a couple in their advanced age. Only God can exact judgment on a nation. Only God can deliver an entire people group from captivity.
If we know only God can do these things, why do we try to rush the process? I think it all boils down to whether or not you trust God. If God has made you a promise, you can trust Him to fulfill it no matter how long it takes. Granted there are some things we need to do as well, but you can be sure the Lord will be crystal clear in His instruction to you.
There are many who are stressed and anxious because they are busy trying to fulfill God’s promises for their lives in their own strength. That’s not only unwise, but it’s also impossible and will frustrate God’s grace from operating in your life.
If you feel like you are under way too much pressure and cannot cope with the demands of your schedule with the time you have, then it might be a good time to re-examine your schedule and make sure you have your priorities in order. Saying yes to one thing means you are saying no to something else. What’s it going to be? The Lord will guide you, but only you can make that choice.
But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides. (Matthew 6:33 AMPC)
Prayer
Take this moment to pray Psalm 139:23-24 over your life:
God, I invite your searching gaze into my heart.
Examine me through and through;
find out everything that may be hidden within me.
Put me to the test and sift through all my anxious cares.
See if there is any path of pain I’m walking on,
and lead me back to your glorious, everlasting ways—
the path that brings me back to you.
City Life Starter 
Leave a Reply