Foundation Against Anxiety — Part 5
Here are the link to Part 1, Part 2,Part 3 and Part 4
Text Psalm 37: 1–13
Introduction: Last week we looked at Commit as the 3rd principle or foundational ingredient against Anxiety or worry. We looked at what Commit actually means and why it’s important for us to leave it all to God and we saw how trust also helps at this level.
Today we will be taking a look at the Fourth foundational principle called Rest and Wait. Please bear with my grammatical blunders as this series is not premeditated.
[7] Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Psalm 37:7 KJV
This foundation is two in one and it shows how powerful it is. After you trust, delight and commit to God; things won’t just happen magically because God is not a magician, He is God of order and process. So you need to be firm in rest and waiting.
One may look and say why do we have to go through all this things in order to get what we need from God? But the reality is that when building a house 🏡 you do not lay foundations always but do it just once and it continues to stand strong. When you set this things in place it’s a life time security so it’s good to go through the stress and pain of getting them in place.
Let’s quickly look at both and touch points on them:
1. Rest: What does it mean to rest? Rest doesn’t necessarily mean to sleep, it means to be calm and stop working things out. Yes you have to learn that you cannot work it out or figure it out and that’s why commit precedes it, after you have committed it to God rest and don’t pick it up again.
[3] Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee : because he trusteth in thee. Isaiah 26:3 KJV
Rest means to have your mind which is your soul in one place. Isaiah tells us that such person will be in peace and that means you will not fret as David said.
Rest here has nothing really to do with physicality and it’s not an idle state. It’s just that calm state of mind that stays committed to the Lord. Rest therefore helps commitment to God permanent.
2. Wait: Also we know wait is not an idle state but a state of continuous rest in the Lord. When you in a wait state it’s means you at rest and when you at rest it means you have all committed to God and when you have all committed to Him, it means you delight in Him and when you delight in Him it means you trust Him.
You can see see how beautifully we walked downwards back to Trust❤️
[5] I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. Psalm 130:5 KJV
David in his rest state said he waits on the Lord and he hopes because he has committed things into His care trusting in Him.
[6] My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning. Psalm 130:6 KJV
Now that David waits he said his waiting or rest is very deep even more than those who watch for the morning. God will surely come through and it’s 💯 certain.
[14] Wait on the Lord : be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord. Psalm 27:14 KJV
As a Christian God only strengthens your heart when you wait on Him.
[31] But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Isaiah 40:31 KJV
The reason why you don’t have strength is because your not waiting on God and this is a litmus’s test to check the acidity level of your soul.
When this acidity level rises you start to no longer rest in God and your start to fret, anxious and toxic. If you find yourself here it’s because you no longer in a rest state and you trying to to figure things out.
It’s extremely important that we learn to rest and wait in the Lord, yes the affairs of this life will surely make us drift but the understanding and litmus test can quickly guide us and put us back in the wait state.
Next week we look at our fifth and final foundational ingredients against anxiety. It’s interesting that they just 5 and five is the number of grace.
Shalom and have a blessed week in Jesus name. Amen 🙏
