Dwell On Him

"My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him."  Psalm 62:1

This verse this morning reminded me that rest really does come from God.  And you know what?  Sometimes the devil tries to steal our rest.  Why?  Because when we don't get enough rest, our bodies react to it.  One needs only to spend time with a baby who didn't get their regular nap to see how that works.  When I don't get enough rest, my temper gets shorter and shorter, and it really doesn't take long for me to go from normal to irritated with everyone around me.  I used to have a habit of spending time talking to God when I went to bed at night. I would thank Him for the day, share any concerns, and if I still found myself struggling to fall asleep, I would start thinking in tongues... that works almost every single time.

But it's been a while since I did that.  I think it's because I've been trying to get more in the habit of talking to God all day long, and at the end of the day I just want to hit my pillow and fall asleep.  Well, the other night I was reminded of one of the reasons that I had been talking to God at night.  I was thinking about something.  Specifically, a situation that was completely annoying to me, except that this particular situation had nothing to do with me.  And I literally mean nothing to do with me.  It wasn't a problem that I should have been mulling on in the first place, but I was.  And I was mulling on it for a really long time- it was keeping me awake well into the night.  I truly could not stop thinking about this thing.  The worst of it was, the next day was extremely busy for me too- so I really could have used the sleep, and every once in a while that would creep into my head as well.

And then it struck me.  It struck me totally that the situation that was keeping me up at night Was. Not. My. Problem.  Not only that, the feelings of anger and frustration that kept coming to surface were not as they should be.  I had no reason to be angry or frustrated, and I had to repent.  I know the Holy Spirit finally decided He had had enough of my dwelling that night, because it became clear as a crystal ball that I was totally wrong, and worse than that, I was losing hours of sleep over something that was none of my business.  I apologized to God, asked him to take those thoughts out of my head, and I also commanded the devil to get away from my mind.  He has no authority over me, since salvation comes from God alone, I belong to God, and the devil has no right to place errant thoughts in my head.  And just like that, the thoughts stopped, I thanked God, and asked Him to help me get a restful sleep with the night that was left.

I did have a fairly restful night after that.  The next day I was only a touch more tired than normal, but as the day went on, a quick cup of coffee or such revived me enough, and I got everything done that needed to get done- and then some. 

Rest, real rest, and salvation come from God alone.  If we are saved, if we are blessed enough to have asked Jesus into our lives, His rest is right there, waiting for us.  All we have to do is reach out and grab it, and it's ours.  God wants us to find rest throughout our days- it was so important to Him that God Himself rested on the seventh day.

"By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. ³ And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done."  Genesis 2:2-3

God rested on the seventh day- AND made the day holy because He rested.  God is our source of rest, because He created rest.  When we dwell on Him, and spend time with Him, He helps us to see when we are  not getting enough rest.

I am so thankful for His rest, and I am thankful for salvation, so that I can rest, and abide in Him all the days of my life.