“Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the LORD loves rests between his shoulders.” Deuteronomy 33:12 (NIV)
True safety and rest are found in Christ alone. We have nothing to bring in and of ourselves for what do we have that we did not receive? We cannot produce even a hair on our heads - ex nihilo - much less anything else. And there is no way we can save ourselves. The great Apostle Paul writes in Romans 3:9-12 (NIV): “What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.’”
Run to the feet of Christ. Fly to Him for the days ahead and the wrath to come. Rest secure in Him - in the peace that He alone can supply. Paul also tells us in Romans 7:21-25 (NIV): “So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.”
God sometimes allows His children to be forsaken so that they may flee to the feet of Jesus for rest, security and perfect peace. The Prophet Isaiah writes in Isaiah 26:3 (NIV): “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.” And the Apostle Paul adds in Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV): “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Jesus’ joy and gentleness dispels our anxiety – we can trust Him with our lives and the lives of all we hold near and dear.
Our hearts do not naturally cling to Jesus. We must see the excellency of Christ above all and cling to Him alone. It is never Jesus plus something else, it is always Christ alone. He is our hope, our joy, our rest, our peace. All other props we seek to take refuge in will fail and fall short. It is He we are to cling to - forsaking all other earthly props which are as reliable as a spider’s web at best. Scripture tells us we are all broken apart from Jesus. We are all as filthy rags, apart from His righteousness. There needs to be within us this sense of a lost condition to move us to come – to draw us to Him. It is the coming of the mind and the heart and the desire to be justified and saved. We cannot save ourselves no matter how brilliant, prosperous or talented we may be. When death is before us, we feel it the greatest for no one can save himself. One is truly blessed when he sees his deep need and reaches for the Savior. Jesus put it this way in the Beatitudes found in Matthew 5:3 (NIV): “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:37-40 (NIV)