Proverbs 21:21
Whoever pursues righteousness and loyalty finds life, success, and honor.
As we always say, Nothing great comes without great effort. This is not the effort of senseless striving that the Bible condemns-striving for God’s favor & love. Rather this is the effort of pursuing a life of right living that brings great reward as God set up in His laws of the universe.
Pursuing rhythms of life & good habits bring about a good life.
None of this comes of course without God prompting us to do so, whether we know & acknowledge it or not. What are your rhythms of life? When do you set aside time to just listen to God? To read about Him? To think about Him? To rest in Him?
My workout partner & I agreed last week that the greatest & most challenging effort of all may very well be quieting the mind to actually listen to what God has to say to you. This is nearing the realm of impossibility for many, if not most people in our 2013 American culture of noise & distraction.
But the reward far outweighs the little pain of the effort.
Einstein encouraged students to set aside times for “incubation”. Time to sit with what they heard & were learning to let it sink in & trigger new thought. Without doing this, you will rarely gain new insights, much less assimilate them into your everyday life.
Proverbs 21:30
There is no wisdom, understanding or advice that can succeed against the Lord.
John 14:27
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”
If Jesus tells us to not let our hearts be troubled or afraid, that means it must be possible to do so. Why would He instruct us to do something that cannot be done? That would just be cruel.
Because we have the Holy Spirit, who is our advocate, helper, and comforter, we have the power to not allow our hearts to be troubled or afraid. So when I’m troubled or afraid, it is only because I have allowed the trouble & fear myself. This is deep & worthy of meditation to me [incubation].
The ability to overcome fear and a troubled heart is always available to me. Do I employ it? Do I really go to my Helper in confidence to obtain the comfort I need and that is readily available to me? This obviously includes going to a trusted, godly friend who always points us to the Holy Spirit.
He is the God of all comfort.
“All is well, and all will be well.” -Julian of Norwich