The Lord will keep in perfect peace, him whose mind is stayed on Him. While working in the yard today, I discovered something about my hidden heart through a lesson from God’s creation. I had just pulled up a fence post and was about to fill in the hole when I noticed a clear taupe colored sack. I gently picked it up and discovered it was a gentle toad peacefully resting in the place he needed to settle for a season. (Just know, that little one is fine and was returned safely to his winter slumber.)
During that brief moment, the Lord revealed a hidden place in my heart. His illuminating light showed me how, in contrast to this gentle creature, I was not resting in Him fully, but living with unspoken anxieties and fears about the past, present, and future. I thought I was brave and had been walking by faith, yet a deeper part of me was operating and responding in uneasiness and dread. The question arose in my heart, “Why can’t I rest in God like this frog?” I began to weep as a deeper level of understanding of God’s love and tender mercies overtook me.
The Lord knew that frog was there, as He sees all the deep and hidden things throughout creation, including the inner workings of our hearts. He loves us so much He will continue to reveal and cleanse and heal until we see Him face to face. The Lord is inviting all of us who are called by His name to enter into a deeper place of rest in Him, free of any hidden areas of fear, anxiety, and uneasiness. He is also inviting all those who have not yet accepted eternal salvation through Jesus Christ to enter into this new life.
In Christ, there is nothing to fear or dread, but there is everything to live for in Him! To live to the hilt every moment for His glory, to cast our anxieties on Him and to really know that God Almighty cares for us, and to walk in the things He has set forth in His word with a grateful and faith filled whisper coming forth proclaiming, “Thank You for my life.” He is good and His love endures forever. Take heart, oh weary soul, and put your trust in God, for I shall yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.
If you ever see a person kneeling in their yard weeping over a post hole and holding a hibernating toad, it’s okay – they are not crazy, the Lord is just working some things out. Also, there is no picture of the frog, for I didn’t want to disturb him any longer while I found my phone to snap a pic. You may see him in a picture yet – this Spring when he emerges for new adventures.
Isaiah 26:3-13 (ESV)
“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. For he has humbled the inhabitants of the height, the lofty city. He lays it low, lays it low to the ground, casts it to the dust. The foot tramples it, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy. The path of the righteous is level; you make level the way of the righteous. In the path of your judgments, O Lord, we wait for you; your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul. My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. If favor is shown to the wicked, he does not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness he deals corruptly and does not see the majesty of the Lord. O Lord, your hand is lifted up, but they do not see it. Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed. Let the fire for your adversaries consume them. O Lord, you will ordain peace for us, for you have indeed done for us all our works. O Lord our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but your name alone we bring to remembrance.”
Luke 12:1-12
“In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops. I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows. And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
Philippians 1:6-11 (ESV)
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”