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Meditations

REST For The Weary OF Soul

REST OF THE WEARY

Scripture Readings: Psalm 62: 1 – 12, John 14: 1 – 31

Scripture Text:
Psalm 62: 1
“My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress; I will never be shaken”.

People throughout the world are demanding a return to normalcy! But can one expect that demand to meet with success? Everyone’s definition of normalcy is different. Therefore, the logical question is, where does one begin the search for normalcy? Certainly not in the arena of human behaviours’ will a satisfactory definition be found. Generally speaking, when seeking an example of normalcy on the horizontal plane, ethical and social mores demonstrate the impossibility of finding a meaning of normalcy that applies to everyone.

The unpredictable pandemic that required the restriction of some activities resulted in angry protestors demanding an immediate return to normalcy. Scientists begging for a cautious approach to protect others from disease and death had accusations of human rights violations hurled at them. 

Demonstratively, a more inclusive concept of normalcy is necessary if tomorrow’s outcome is healthier and happier than present demands reflect.

 All efforts to examine truth concerning individual behaviours and the communal responsibilities of humankind require viewing them from above. Wherefore, our motivating quest is the same as a man’s question to God, many centuries ago, ‘What is a man that you (God) are mindful of him?’ Psalm 8:4.’

If indeed our present longing is to discover true freedom that makes each one of us our sister’s and brother’s keeper (Genesis 4: 1-9), a pure expression of Faith in God is paramount.  

ST. Augustine of Hippo in Augustine’s Confessions wrote, ‘Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.’

Psalm 62 expresses one man’s longing to return to a more equitable and liberating way of life. Yet, abandoned by all fellow pilgrims of the way, he concludes he is nothing more than a tottering fence or a leaning wall. Being bereft of human empathy and understanding, he appeals for rational consideration, but to no avail. Unable to find the milk of human kindness, he appeals to the Creator of all to reveal God’s intention for creating the human race. An ineffable peace wraps him around. Amidst the persisting echoes of the world of distrust and self-serving interests, he now enters a solitude that absolves him. A hymn celebrating liberation rises in his heart: ‘My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress; I will never be shaken.’

The early disciples of Jesus learned to rest in him alone while he dwelt with them here on earth. Therefore, their Faith was not a conscious effort to measure their lives by performing miracles like they saw Jesus perform. It was something far greater than that. It was the surrendering of the self to the in-dwelling miracle-working presence of Christ within. In so doing, the disciples receive a self-consciousness that is wholly independent of all self-introspection.  

Here is the secret concerning the kind of return and re-creation for which the world’s inhabitants genuinely yearn. 

 In the throes of this disastrous pandemic, He was in Christ; God was there, teaching us to pray; “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. It became restful for people to develop a renewed interest in scriptures that induce hope:

“If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling,
no harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways”. (Psalm 91: 9 – 11)

And now in, the re-shaping and re-building of the global community, shall we insist on our way of doing things,
OR, shall we seek to have an answer to our familiar daily prayer, uttered by millions; ‘Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven.”

 PRAYER TO FOLLOW THIS MEDITATION

Blessed Father,
 Inside a tomb
        Cold, dark and lifeless,
the imperceptible blessing of
rebirth of a tired and broken world burst forth, and it can yet happen once more.
Now, like a living tomb myself, I await the power of resurrection. May it burst forth in me and send me
back into a world that reeks of fear and mistrust, to
demonstrate once more the way of love.

It is always the presence of Your Son, our Saviour so pure, Holy, sinless and loving, that transforms a tomb from winter’s killing grip to springtime’s triumphant rebirth. 

 Here am I, O Lord. Work your power in me! Equip me that I may be among those who now awaken the world to this renewed, amplified truth; NOW IS CHRIST RISEN FROM THE DEAD! He Is HERE! The whole world will yet find rest in the embrace of God’s unshaken arms. For our sake and in the Name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, we pray. Amen.

Hymn: O safe to The Rock
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