Its been quite a while since I have put anything here (against the decision to put between two and four posts up each week). I have gotten so bogged down, as much as I hate to admit it, with this pursuit for what to eat, drink, wear, etc That's what led me to this today's post.
Have you ever tried falling asleep? I don't really know how to put it in a way that it would make sense to you but if you have ever experienced it before, you'll know what I mean. I remember sometime during my NYSC, after a very stressful day, completely tired out and needing to sleep, I entered my room in the family house, lay on the bed and struggled to fall asleep. I had a splitting headache and I literally struggled with sleep. After almost 10 minutes of this wrestling, I got up from the crumpled bedsheets and in exasperation let out a sigh. I figured trying somethings could help me fall asleep. Maybe taking some milk or listening to some mellow music could do the trick. So I tried all those things but all to no avail. I just grew more wide awake.I wanted to sleep. I NEEDED to sleep but I just couldn't fall asleep. Why?
Well I remember a friend of mine saw my desperation and told me the one thing I was not doing right-I was struggling to fall asleep. You don't struggle to fall asleep! You just fall asleep! And that leads me to what I would like to pass across.
Resting is not something you do with effort. Its something you don't do to do. (That's confusing right? Even I almost got entangled in the words). To rest requires that you just do that-REST. And that's so difficult for us. When God tells us not to pursue shelter, clothing and all those stuff , what He is saying is to rest in His ability to make provision available to us. My heart goes to young believers who live in Lagos. Many of us are so caught in this rat race that we don't know how to stop not to now talk of rest(even in the physical). And I tell you, you can't enjoy this life if you don't know how to stop, how to rest.
Its really important for us to know how to rest. When I say rest, I mean using less of our energy and depending on God's ability. Behind most of our struggles and ups and downs is the belief that our efforts will bring us to our end and destiny. The truth is that there's an external influence beyond us that makes our dreams a reality. Like a man of God I know once put it, life is not 2+2=4 but 2+x=the answer, where x is a variable, the functional knowledge of God you possess. So when I say rest, what I mean is that you lean on the ability of God to come through for you.
If you will rest then you must know two things, first God is omnipotent (I just remembered I used to pronounce it ominipotent. I can't stop laughing at the ignorance of childishness. Ha ha ha ha). It means that God has ALL POWER and ALL MIGHT. In short, there is nothing He cannot do. If it seems difficult for you to handle, it isn't for Him. He can do both what is difficult for you to do AND what is IMPOSSIBLE for you to do. Two good examples are Abraham ( a difficult situation) and Mary (an impossible situation).
Secondly, God is omniscient (and again I smile as I remember what I used to call it-ominiscience). This means that there is nothing that ever catches God by surprise. Particularly for us that run helter-skelter, it tells us simply that God knows the end of the route we are taking now. He knows which decisions will lead us into the end He has in mind for us and which ones don't! He has information about the future -AND WE DON'T(ohhh that hurts uhn?). Because He has information we don't, His decisions and views are wiser than ours and it'll do us a world of good just to follow them.
Oh I guess I didn't tell you how I eventually fell asleep. Well I just forgot about everything on my mind. I simply stopped thinking about everything I needed to do or hadn't done and sleep closed my eyes.
Resting requires no effort but that we simply trust His ability(omnipotence) and His wisdom(omniscience). Is that too much to do?
'nuff said!
Have you ever tried falling asleep? I don't really know how to put it in a way that it would make sense to you but if you have ever experienced it before, you'll know what I mean. I remember sometime during my NYSC, after a very stressful day, completely tired out and needing to sleep, I entered my room in the family house, lay on the bed and struggled to fall asleep. I had a splitting headache and I literally struggled with sleep. After almost 10 minutes of this wrestling, I got up from the crumpled bedsheets and in exasperation let out a sigh. I figured trying somethings could help me fall asleep. Maybe taking some milk or listening to some mellow music could do the trick. So I tried all those things but all to no avail. I just grew more wide awake.I wanted to sleep. I NEEDED to sleep but I just couldn't fall asleep. Why?
Well I remember a friend of mine saw my desperation and told me the one thing I was not doing right-I was struggling to fall asleep. You don't struggle to fall asleep! You just fall asleep! And that leads me to what I would like to pass across.
Resting is not something you do with effort. Its something you don't do to do. (That's confusing right? Even I almost got entangled in the words). To rest requires that you just do that-REST. And that's so difficult for us. When God tells us not to pursue shelter, clothing and all those stuff , what He is saying is to rest in His ability to make provision available to us. My heart goes to young believers who live in Lagos. Many of us are so caught in this rat race that we don't know how to stop not to now talk of rest(even in the physical). And I tell you, you can't enjoy this life if you don't know how to stop, how to rest.
Its really important for us to know how to rest. When I say rest, I mean using less of our energy and depending on God's ability. Behind most of our struggles and ups and downs is the belief that our efforts will bring us to our end and destiny. The truth is that there's an external influence beyond us that makes our dreams a reality. Like a man of God I know once put it, life is not 2+2=4 but 2+x=the answer, where x is a variable, the functional knowledge of God you possess. So when I say rest, what I mean is that you lean on the ability of God to come through for you.
If you will rest then you must know two things, first God is omnipotent (I just remembered I used to pronounce it ominipotent. I can't stop laughing at the ignorance of childishness. Ha ha ha ha). It means that God has ALL POWER and ALL MIGHT. In short, there is nothing He cannot do. If it seems difficult for you to handle, it isn't for Him. He can do both what is difficult for you to do AND what is IMPOSSIBLE for you to do. Two good examples are Abraham ( a difficult situation) and Mary (an impossible situation).
Secondly, God is omniscient (and again I smile as I remember what I used to call it-ominiscience). This means that there is nothing that ever catches God by surprise. Particularly for us that run helter-skelter, it tells us simply that God knows the end of the route we are taking now. He knows which decisions will lead us into the end He has in mind for us and which ones don't! He has information about the future -AND WE DON'T(ohhh that hurts uhn?). Because He has information we don't, His decisions and views are wiser than ours and it'll do us a world of good just to follow them.
Oh I guess I didn't tell you how I eventually fell asleep. Well I just forgot about everything on my mind. I simply stopped thinking about everything I needed to do or hadn't done and sleep closed my eyes.
Resting requires no effort but that we simply trust His ability(omnipotence) and His wisdom(omniscience). Is that too much to do?
'nuff said!
