Its not in trying but in trusting

I can identify with this journal entry from last year. My eyes are closing even as the reality of going to work tonight approaches. I have been tempted to just lay down and nap till I have to leave for work. However, this message invigorated me enough to finish reading it and posting it rather than succumb to the urge to sleep. I hope it speaks to you as well.

October 26, 2015:

Worship: Strength of the Lord by Larnel Harris

Watch this video first!

https://youtu.be/DQ9tVkdEfoo

Video: 

Sometimes life seems like words and music
That can't quite become a song
So we cry and sigh then we try again
And wonder what could be wrong
But when we turn to the Lord at the end of ourselves
Like we've done a time or two before
We find His truth is the same as it's always been
We never will need more

It's not in trying but in trusting
It's not in running but in resting
Not in wondering but in praying
That we find the strength of the Lord

He's all we need for our every need
We never need be alone
Still He'll let us go if we choose to
To live life on our own
Then the only good that will ever be said
Of the pains we find ourselves in
They are places to gain the wisdom to say
I'll never leave Him again

It's not in trying but in trusting
It's not in running but in resting
Not in wondering but in praying
That we find the strength of the Lord

It's not in trying but in trusting
It's not in running but in resting
Not in wondering but in praying
That we find the strength of the Lord

It's not in wondering but in praying
That we find the strength of the Lord

Video: https://youtu.be/mWFpj7S-Tbw

Witness: Sleep was elusive today. I went to bed at around 3 AM after finishing “yesterday’s” journal entry. I was awoken two hours later by a text from my son-in-law. I spent the next hour conversing with him by text. I then took care of my dog, Prince. I Let him out, then back in again and then I fed him. After that, I spent till 9 AM talking with my younger daughter. Tried to go back to sleep but was awoken by a call from my daughter saying she had to go to work and I would have to pick up her kids from school. One had stayed home from school because he wasn’t feeling well, so he came over to the house. I had to go and get my blood test done for my health review, so I took him with me. I got my flu shot there as well. I then bought lunch and went home. I never did get back to sleep. Picked up the kids from school, had dinner at my moms, then went to the store. In between all of this I did the dishes and the wash and various little things and finally sat down to have a quiet time with the Lord. Now my eyes are trying to shut on me. It’s now 12:08 AM.  What began as today became yesterday and what was tomorrow became today. When I was driving home from the store I decided I would break a pattern I had and sing a song I had sung before by Meredith Andrews called “Soar”. However, when I came home, the Lord impressed on my mind to send a song sung by Larnel Harris called “Strength of the Lord” to my son-in-law. I did and later I decided that song would be my worship song instead. The song, portrayed in a temporal way by how my day went, begins with these words:

Sometimes life seems like words and music
That can't quite become a song

Just like my day of trying to get some rest and also to get some things done, only to fail to achieve it all, we try to do this in the spiritual realm as well. Somehow, many people believe they need to do certain things or stop doing certain things in their lives in order to become a “sheep of His Pasture”¹. You will hear them say they are trying to be a Christian or to be a good person. When they fail time and time again, they begin to question the possibility of this ever happening in their life. They begin to think it’s just easier to go back to their old sinful ways.² “To be or not to be” becomes the question in their mind, whether it is easier to run back to the “pleasures of sin”³ instead of all this failing effort in trying and running to reform their lives. They don’t understand that as the song says:

It's not in trying, but in trusting
It's not in running, but in resting
Not in wondering, but in praying
That we find the strength of the Lord

The fact is that we are all sinners and in need of forgiveness.⁴ That we can never do enough to “become a Christian”⁵, so we need to stop trying and start trusting and stop running and start resting in the finished work of Christ on the cross. We can stop wondering if we are in or out with God and recognize that our sinful failures keep us out⁶ and pray to receive His forgiveness and our right standing with Him as we confess Jesus as our Lord and Savior⁷ who died for the punishment of our sins⁸ and rose again for our right standing before God.⁹ Then we will find the strength needed to live for Him.¹⁰ Yet we will realize that the same truths that bring us in, sustain us as Christians, that of trusting, resting and praying to the Great Shepherd of our lives.

I told you that I was going to sing “Soar” for my worship tonight, but changed courses and decided on “The Strength of the Lord’. So as was my habit I read a previous journal entry. What was the worship song for that day? You guessed it― “Soar”. And so I sang!

¹ Ps 100:3

Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. NIV

John 10:7-10

Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. NIV

² Heb 12:2-5

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. NIV

³  Heb 11:24-26

By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's  daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. NIV

⁴  Rom 3:21-24

But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. NIV

Rom 5:12

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned— NIV

⁵  See # 4 above

   Rom 4:1-6

 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about — but not before God.  What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."

Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation.    However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

"Blessed are they

whose transgressions

are forgiven,

whose sins are covered.

Blessed is the man

whose sin the Lord will

never count

against him." NIV

⁶  Isa 59:2

  But your iniquities have separated

  you from your God;

  your sins have hidden his face from you,

  so that he will not hear. NIV

  Rom 6:23

  For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  NIV

⁷  Rom 10:9-13

That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised   him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame."  For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile — the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." NIV

⁸   Rom 5:6-8

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.   Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. NIV

⁹  Rom 4:25

  He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. NIV

¹⁰ Phil 2:12-13

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed — not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence — continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. NIV

  1 Cor 15:10-11

   But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them —   yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. NIV

WORD:

Well, it’s 3:00 AM and I need to go to sleep. I am very tired. May the WORD shared in my witness section, fill God’s sheep with praise. May those who are wandering as lost sheep suddenly hear the voice of the Shepherd and cry out for help. He will surely come to your rescue.