And man has been trying to make himself to be the most high ever since Lucifer started whispering in Eve's ear in the Garden. Why? So we can make the rules. In the Garden they had but one rule don't eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That was one rule too many. And so it still goes today. You see new religions popping up all the time that simply recreate the rules so the portions that make them uncomfortable are ignored. This buffet-style Christianity does not worship God though because at the heart of any worship of God must be obedience to Him. When you change vital portions of Scripture to allow your sin to be excusable, all you are doing is recreating God in the image of man.
But man makes a poor God. There is no rest found in the world. There is no rest found in man. The weariness only deepens there. Our key verse today from Paul's letter to the Church at Galatia implores us to not give up in our weariness. Searching for answers in the world is giving up. Dropping the yoke of Christ for the things of this world is giving up. Seeking the temporal over the eternal is giving up.
And God is reminding us here that we should not grow weary from doing good. There is a harvest coming beloved. There is nothing more peaceful then knowing you are in the center of doing the will of God in your life. But the world will distract you. The enemy will whisper into your life and try to pull your attention away from God. To which will you believe; to which will you acknowledge? The Gospel of Mark tells a story of Jesus and the disciples crossing the sea when a great storm came upon them:
A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" Mark 4: 37-40
Now, the furious squalls of this world will come upon you suddenly in your walk with God as well. The waves will break over your life too and things will seem as dire to you as they must have to the disciples that day on the sea. The enemy will whisper into your ear to distract you. He will whisper about how furious the storm looks. How intimidating the waves are. He will whisper about your own mortality and how you might not even survive this fierce tempest you are facing. What is he trying to distract you from beloved? Why does he want you concentrating so hard on the circumstances surrounding your boat?
Because he wants you to forget who is in your boat! That day on the sea the disciples had the Son of God in their boat with them. They had the one true God who created the entire universe with a single command. The God who told the seas they could come only this far. Yet they stopped looking at who was in their boat and focused instead on what was all around their boat. And so it can go for us as well. We can become so distracted by what is going on around our lives that we can forget who we have in our lives. Remember, the enemy whispers into your ear so you can forget the power you have residing within you. The Hope of Glory Christ in you. If we can ever just keep our focus on who is in our boat, then it wouldn't matter to us what was going on around our boat. If we could ever concentrate on who lives inside of us, then it wouldn't matter what was going on outside of us.
Yet there we can go to God in prayer and ask Him if He cares that we are drowning. He can answer right away and rebuke the storm in your life but He is really looking for your faith to be stronger than that. He is really looking for your faith to recognize that as long as He is in the boat, it doesn't matter what is going on around the boat. That day on the sea His disciples were weary of the storm and Jesus asked them why they had no faith. Today He is still asking where our faith is. When the storms of life and the distractions of this world set in and we grow weary, we need to only look to the back of the boat to see who is with us all the time. If Jesus can be sleeping on a cushion in the midst of the storms we are facing then we should take our cue from Him and rest as well. Rest in Him. He is in fact the Prince of Peace.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14: 27
The peace the world promises is momentary. It will pass and fade with time. Jesus gave us His peace specifically so we would not be troubled when the waves crashed over the boat of our lives. God understands that we can grow weary. Being pilgrims in a foreign land can grow tiresome. He wants us to take His yoke and learn from Him, not from the world which espouses man as God. He wants our focus to be on Him.
Look not at the clouds. Look not at the waves. Look not to what makes you weary. Look to from whom you learn. Look to your strength. Look to your God. His peace for our weariness is found simply at the back of the boat; resting comfortably in the midst of the storm.
Reverend Anthony Wade February 17, 2010
