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Resting...Resting?


A few weeks ago, my husband and I had dinner with our daughter-in-law and two of our grand children. My daughter-in-law lost her job a couple of months ago. I wanted an update on current job prospects or plans, so I asked, "What are you doing these days?" Her answer was simple and yet incredibly profound.             

Resting.

(Is that even a word in the American lexicon?) I'm proud of her, and of them, for making the decision that it's time for her to rest. She's been in hyper-drive for all the years I've known her (over 16). 

That word has haunted me since she spoke it. Resting. What would happen if I...if you...gave it a try? 

In Psalm 23: 6a, David says Surely goodness and mercy will follow me. In K.J. Ramsey's The Lord is My Courage (page 240), she tells us that our English word, "follow," doesn't convey the power behind the original Hebrew word that David used (radaph). She tells us that radaph means "to pursue, chase, and persecute." Typically used to reference an enemy's pursuit of his prey, goodness and mercy are depicted here with the same passion and zeal as Saul had when hunting David (see 1 Samuel in the Old Testament Bible).

K.J. Ramsey says,
The goodness and love of God do not follow us like my dogs do...No, the goodness and love of God hound us.


Right. Sure they do. So why doesn't it feel like it? 

I think perhaps we have the tables turned, and we're doing the chasing. What if we step back and chill, and we let that which we so desire find us instead of the other way around? It's simple. But not easy. And it will take longer than an afternoon off from your currently crazy schedule. It will take a change of heart - an inner change. It will take trust.

Like Hawkeye in The Last of the Mohicans, Goodness and Mercy WILL find us. They already pursue us. They already chase us. We just need to stay alive, and in that staying alive, we can rest. We can be still. It's that simple. It's that hard.








 

Comments

  1. mrgOctober 16, 2023 at 1:34 PM

    Ugh, these words pierce the heart, hitting its target not to damage but to heal.
    This is a wonderful, though hard, truth... but where is our action to live them out? Something to think about.

    ReplyDelete

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