This devotional from EDIFIED, written years ago, is exactly what I need in relation to the difficulties with the zoning board and fire marshal. God is so good to speak to us through His Word.
“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12
Praise you, my Lord God, for your wonderful Word, which works widely and deeply in my life. Last night as I was wrestling again with the conflict before us, thinking of arguments and ways of presenting things, you brought Psalm 62 to mind again, drawing my churning thoughts away from my microscopic, self-centered focus to your great overview: “My soul finds rest in God alone.”
I don’t have to wait for resolution of this conflict to have peace and rest, for you are the One who is in charge, who will work this out as you desire, whether it be in the direction I think it should go or not. In your great plan, you have reasons for allowing men to make willful choices against your Word. If the outcome is the opposite of what I desire, you are still sovereign, still worthy of praise and will still use it all for good.
Psalm 62 continues with, “My salvation comes from you.” All my striving and anxiousness, fears and scheming will do nothing unless you move. I must be quiet and follow the leading of your Spirit, working with you hand-in-hand. In doing this, I can relax in the knowledge of what a wise, gracious and powerful God you are.
Psalm 62:2-6 leads me in the right way. “You only are my rock”—you are my stability, not the decisions others make; “my salvation”—repetition reinforces right thinking and I must be looking only to you to be saved from evil; “my high tower”—in you I have both protection and a lofty and wide view of things as I look at things from your perspective; “I will never be shaken”– it is not the outcome that determines my rest, but it is you who are my stability.
“How long will you assault a man, would you cast him down, this leaning wall, this tottering fence?”—a good reminder of my weakness, my inability in my minuscule strength to stand against the onslaughts of Satan and his hordes.
“Surely they intend to topple him from his lofty place. They delight in lies; with their mouths they bless, but in their hearts they curse.” I must remember Satan’s tactics and goals: lies, worry, fear, anxiety, unbelief. I must keep on the armor of light, trust in you, O God, and you will act to protect me. You are Truth, you are Good, you are the One who lifts me up.
“Find rest, my soul, in God alone,”—again repetition reinforces, this time as a command. I must obey and choose willfully to find my rest in you long before any decision comes to pass—“for my hope comes from him.” Again, it is not my perfect performance which will bring good results but it is you, working in your wisdom, your power to open eyes and turn hearts to what is needed. “You only are my rock, my salvation, my high tower, I will never be shaken.”
What assurance, what confidence, what stability, what joy there is in knowing you, Lord Jesus, my God, my Rock, my Ruler, my King. You are certainly worthy of all worship and obedience.
Prayer: “Praise be to you throughout eternity, and throughout today. May the meditation of my heart and the words of my mouth be pleasing in your sight, my mighty Rock and my Refuge. Amen.”
