Unless Jehovah builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless Jehovah guards the city,
The watchman keeps watch in vain.
It is vain for you to rise up early,
To lie down late,
To eat the bread of toil;
For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.
— Psalm 127:1-2
When the Lord loves us, He gives us sleep. We enjoy a sweet restfulness. The more we struggle, the more the Lord says, “It is in vain.” All our labor is in vain until we surrender to the Lord and rest in Him.
For us to go to sleep can mean one of two things. First, it can mean to stop our working. Second, it can mean to accept the Lord’s environmental arrangement for us. We need to learn how to rest in the Lord. This is to pray, “Lord, I will stop myself. I will forget about all my plans and all my striving. I will forget about everything. Lord, I take Your disciplinary hand. I accept Your government and Your authority. I accept what You have arranged for me. I rest in Your hand.” When we stop our striving and rest in the Lord’s arrangement we begin to be transformed. It seems that we are asleep, yet we are actually experiencing transformation. Eventually we do not grow so much by our struggling, but by resting in the Lord’s hand.
Adapted from The Journey of Life, pages 67-68.
Tomorrow: “Resting and Bearing Fruit”