I was listening to hymns in traffic last week, and though I’ve doubtless heard it hundreds of times before, this one phrase from Blessed Assurance struck me anew:
“Perfect submission, all is at rest.”
What a seminal moment that was! This one phrase arrested my attention, quieted my nagging doubts, and beckoned me, once again, to the classroom.
On an otherwise ordinary day, stuck in traffic, mind elsewhere, God broke through, mingling the miraculous with the mundane, declaring that how things have been is not how they have to remain.
“Perfect submission, all is at rest.”
I was immediately mindful of the following quote by Henry Ward Beecher. I’ve loved its message for decades. I have it written in the front of my Bible, and committed it to memory long before calamity struck.
“Afflictions cannot injure when blended with submission.”
Do you see it, beloved, the connection? We wrest control and marvel that we find no rest, when it’s the striving that wears us out.
In that sacred moment, two unavoidable questions emerged: Will I continue to wrest control from God when life’s injuries and afflictions sting? Or will I submit to what He, in faithfulness, has allowed and promised to redeem?
The answer is clear. Submission is the key.
𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠.
None at all.
And we always have a choice. We can contend, and resist, and strive, and get our dukes up. Or we can submit, trusting that there is growth and purpose awaiting beyond our present pain.
God is present in calamity, unveiling for us the hidden joy of a sorrowful season. He knows what we bruised reeds can take and what we cannot. 𝐒𝐨, 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐞𝐝𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥.
We let down our hands. We unclench our fists, and we trade in our anger-encrusted armor for garments of praise, instead.
We submit. We acquiesce. We find rest.
“Perfect submission, all is at rest.” 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐝.
May it be yours today, dearest ones.
“There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.”
~ 𝐇𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝟒:𝟗