Virginia Brandt Berg (1898-1968)
"I am not worthy, the least of His favor,
But Jesus left Heaven for me.
He left Heaven to die in my place --
What mercy, what love, what grace.
I am not worthy, the least of His favor,
But He's preparing a place
Where I shall dwell with my glorified Savior,
Forever to look in His face."
In Luke 9:10 it tells about how Jesus went aside into a quiet place: "He took them, and went aside privately into a desert place."
We're living today in such a time of pressure. "I'm under so much pressure. I can hardly stand it, the pressures are so great!," is the cry of so many people today. We're living in a day of such busyness, such rush!
The word "busy" is constantly heard, we almost grow weary of it. It seems to be the excuse for everything! Everybody is in such a hurry and flurry!
Such words as "rest", "quiet", "stillness" and "solitude" seem to have gone out of life. Everywhere streets are crowded with rushing cars, bumping fenders and screeching tires! Why? Because people are hurrying so fast. They've got to get where they're going, so they pass the car in front of them because they've got to get there in a hurry.
It's like the man who had hired a new chauffeur. The chauffeur drove like mad all through the streets as fast as he could go, and when he got to their destination, the man just sat in the back seat of the car and waited. He said to the chauffeur, "What are you going to do with the five minutes? What did you think I wanted to do with the five minutes that you saved by rushing like that?" The chauffeur replied, "I'm just going to sit here now and relax!"
It's really a problem, when people talk about the strain they're under and the strain can be seen upon their faces. You try to talk to them about stopping a minute and getting quiet, and, as Jesus said, "Come apart and rest awhile." -- Mark 6:31.
We are living in the rapids of time, in strange and awful days, but the speed with which we move is the most remarkable, and the restlessness is the most deplorable.
"Take time to be holy,
Speak oft with thy Lord,
Abide in Him always and feed on His Word.
Make friends of God's children,
Help those that are weak,
Forgetting in nothing His blessing to seek.
"Take time to be holy,
The World rushes on,
Spend much time in secret with Jesus alone.
By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be,
Thy friends and thy conduct
His likeness shall see.
"Take time to be holy,
Be calm in thy soul,
Each thought and each motive,
Beneath His control.
Thus led by His Spirit
To fountains of rest and love,
Thou soon shall be fitted for service Above.
As I got quiet in my soul today, I began to realize during that quiet time that so much of the jar and hurry of this restless time, this time of such stress and pressure, had gotten into my own soul. But I know the remedy and I've tried it so many times. I know where I can find repose.
I looked up in Webster's dictionary the difference between the words "repose" and "compose." We hear a lot about compose as compared with aspirin -- aspirin for the headache -- and compose, to bring the body to quiet. In the dictionary says that "compose" means "to bring the body and mind to a condition of repose, calmness and quietness." And "repose" means "to be at peace; in a dignified calmness."
That sounds so nice, but how do we get there? There is a remedy, but just how people are going to find that repose when they're on the run and in a rush all the time, that I don't know, I don't think they can do it! But the remedy will take all that strain out of our spirit and relieve you from that unrest in your mind and the tension from your body.
When I get alone to take time in God's presence, when I read His Word and search the Scripture, and search my own heart and spend time in prayer, there's restored the peace that He promises, a sweet rest that He gives, and the repose that only God can give. He's the only One Who can give that repose!
So many people in this jet-propelled age of today have to take some kind of tranquilizer to calm them down! I read recently of a man who came rushing home from work and said to his wife, "I'm can't believe all the things that happened in the office today! I've been under such strain, such tension, that I can hardly stand it! Give me one of those pills to compose me, to calm me down." So she gave him the pill, but just about that time the phone rang and he was ordered to come back to the office, that a very important customer was ready to give a big order, and so he had to return immediately. So he said to his wife, "Where are those pep pills? I've got to have one!" Well, that's the way it is today -- take one to pep you up and one to calm you down.
But seriously, the pressures today are many, and some people do have no other recourse, but the Christian does! The Christian has the quiet time, the time of meditation before God, where they can get rest. The Christian has that which can cool the fever of this hectic rush. Here are some verses that'll show you the reality of this.
"And Moses said unto them, 'Stand still, and I will hear what the Lord will command concerning you.'" -- Num.9:8. He had to get them quiet before he could even tell what the Lord would command for them!
In 1 Samuel 9:27 it says, "And as they were going down to the end of the city, Samuel said to Saul, 'Bid the servant pass on before us...but stand thou still a while, that I may show thee the Word of God.
In counseling and praying with people, it can be so hard sometimes to get them quiet to listen to God's Word. A wonderful verse about that is 1 Samuel 12:7, "Now therefore stand still, that I may reason with you before the Lord of all the righteous acts of the Lord, which he did to you and to your fathers." And Job 37:14 says,
"Hearken unto this, O Job: stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God." "Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still." -- Psa.4:4. David always talked about meditating and communion at night on his own bed. "Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen." -- Psa.46:10.
If only we would get into this quiet place. I haven't been very long in a home, that the mothers said, "Well, we're going to stay home tonight, children," and the young daughter in the home said, "Stay home? What in the World's happening, what's wrong?" "Well," replied the mother, "I don't know that there's anything wrong about staying home." The girl looked up and said, "What a bore that will be!" Well, I can tell you, in my early days, we thought it was a wonderful thing, and the thought of staying home wasn't the thought of not doing anything. -- And not going some place wasn't so shocking!
Seek God's presence, read His Word, that He may refresh your soul, clarify your thoughts and take the strain out of your life. Some people think it's a waste of time to stop to meditate, to stop and pray, yet millions have found, through the ages, that only in the presence of God could they find rest and peace, and that every symptom of pressure would be subdued.
Prayer makes available the power of God that can take all the strain out of life. Won't you think about it? Won't you get to the Lord? His Word says, "We which have believed do enter into My rest." -- Heb.4:3. But that resting place comes only through faith in God, and faith comes by reading God's Word (Rom.10:17), and getting quiet in prayer before Him.
God's Word says, "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God" -- Heb.4:9. But you don't have to wait for Heaven to get that rest! You can have it right now! "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee." -- Isa.26:3. God bless you and bring you into His place of perfect peace