How are you handling the stress of life right now?  It seems we go through moments and seasons when life’s questions become overwhelming.  Have you ever felt like just living life must be above your paygrade?  I have.  I can’t seem to figure it all out.  And the harder I try, the more I get frustrated, sad, disapppointed and depressed.
There is a little Pslam that reminds me of what God has invited us to experience, in Christ.  He has not invited me to figure it all out with him.  He has not invited me to a life of confident answer-giving.  He has not invited me to help him put order to things and straighten out people.  He has invited me to rest with Him and in Him.

Take a look at these 3 short verses…

Psalm 131

O LORD, my heart is not lifted up;

my eyes are not raised too high;

I do not occupy myself with things too great

and too marvelous for me.

But I have calmed and quieted my soul,

like a weaned child with its mother;

like a weaned child is my soul within me.

O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth

and forever more.

The psalmist writes in verse one, just what he’s decided to do.  He has humbled himself.  He doesn’t raise his heart up to try to take God’s place.  He allows that there will always be mysteries to life.  And so he says, he refuses to obsess over things he can’t figure out.  He accepts that some things are too much for him.

There is comfort in remembering that we are the creation and God is the Creator.  God’s expected to know where the stars came from and how long they’ll hang in the sky.  He’s expected to know how we’ve been knit together and why.  He’s expected to know the minute and monumental movements of the universe.  We’re not.

Instead of resting in his own ability to handle life, the writer rests in God.  He knows he’s been invited to a new kind of intimacy.  And then he describes it.  “Like a weaned child with its mother,” he writes.  What is that all about?  It’s a powerful picture of contenment.

A child that is still nursing is a child that demands from her mother.  She knows that Mom is the source of food.  Mom is the grocery store and the cook.  She is there to meet the physical needs of the baby.  Mom is there to take every pain away.  A weaned child still depends on Mom, but this child is content sitting with Mom, loving and being loved by Mom.  Mom is no longer a dispenser of food, but she is a comforting presence.

I think that’s the relationshp we’re invited to with God.  Early in our faith, it’s all about what God can do for us.  We want the salvation of God.  We want to be healed.  We want our lives to be fixed.  So we tend to go to God with anxiousness and even frustration.  But what we’re invited to is to be with God as God.  We are invited to rest with him in contented fellowship.

When I feel the tensions rise, I have to remind myself of a different approach with God.

1.  Don’t come to God for what you want him to do.  Don’t demand that he fix it too soon.  Come to him for Him.  Appreciate him in his presence.

2.  Rest in his knowledge of life and his power to change what needs to change (including us) and rest in his intrinsic goodness.  Sit for a moment.  Let him speak to you and love you in it.

It seems when I take the time and create the space to reset my relationship with God, I find that I learn to enjoy my Savior in the pain.  And He blesses me with the hope and confidence of moving forward with him.

Here is my prayer:  “Lord in the frustrations of life, I understand that things big and small are too much for me.  I can’t understand like you can.  I can’t control like you must.  Forgive me for trying.  

I rest in you right now.  I know you’ve done and will do all that needs to be done.  The cross of Christ is my supreme reminder of your power and love.  I rest in the knowledge that you want me to want you and not just all your stuff.  I trust you.  I hope in you.  Thank you for the rest you give.”

How does your view of God help you reconnect, or how does it keep you away from God?  What images come to mind if you described your relationship with Christ now?