Our eldest enjoying his soul at rest. Circa 1990

Let my soul be at rest again, for the Lord has been good to me. http://goo.gl/67YQ0s  So often I take the good and leave the ‘rest’ #obey

As I considered this lyric from the Psalm, I recalled my time spent in the Washington D.C. area. I was working at least 60 hours a week and not even beginning to keep up with my peers in the number of hours spent ‘on the job.’

I know what it is like to live in what is among the ‘busiest’ cultures on the planet.

During that time, Michelle and I were invited to dinner with a really bright lawyer and his high-powered and influential wife. We really enjoyed the couple and since we had three small children our ‘dates’ were few and far between. We jumped at the opportunity. The offer was extended mid-November. The first opening they had on their calendar was the following March. Yes, November, December, January, February were completely booked, no openings.

I taught a Bible study to about 40 or 50 of these kind of people. Some were high-ranking military, some were lobbyists, some had visited the Oval Office on business…recently. They were all stretched to the ultimate limits of what they could bear.

I offered up the idea that this kind of lifestyle was not really good for people. I suggested that the promise of all the modern conveniences like radio (for news), microwaves (for food), washing machines (of all sort), climate controlled homes (no need to chop wood to heat), indoor plumbing (no trips to the well or outhouse), et al was an empty promise. We actually have less time to enjoy life than our much harder working fore-bearers.

I was nearly thrown out. No kidding! The group was furious and I was caught off guard.

I have since learned the principle of taking the ‘good’ and leaving the ‘rest.’ Left to our own desires, we deprive ourselves of the pleasure of enjoying the goodness graciously provided us by our Lord. We take our wages and then spend more than we have. We buy our cars and then wait on snarled roads. We build our houses and then obligate ourselves to impress the neighbors. We bear children and then farm them into endless activity.

The Psalmist had it right: receive good and then rest in it. You will be delighted. I promise.

The beginning of man’s rebellion against God was, and is, the lack of a thankful heart.-Francis Schaeffer