I feel tired and overwhelmed with time, with wanting to love those who need love, to pour out to those who need a friend, to work like a workmen of the Lord, to give to love, to minister... and my heart feels tired and overwhelmed with what I really want to do- a pressure to do well and yet my heart and being feels pressed with time...I came home to prepare a bible study teaching on Rahab and feel distracted to prepare something good.
I found great encouragement from my friend Edith.... Read on... Any thoughts?
For Those who Worry
by Edith Scheaffer
Oil is limited now. What far-reaching effects this has. Switzerland has banned driving on Sunday, and quiet roads wind down the mountainsides - empty except for walking people or flying birds. City streets are the scene of roller skating and horseback riding. One feels on Sundays as if the clock has turned back to a time before automobiles were known, and people passed each other slowly enough to speak.
But time doesn't turn back, and limitation of one product like oil demonstrates the dependence of a whole culture or civilization on a limitless supply of a variety of things. Come to the end of one thing and many other things are affected. But even more than "things," are human beings affected. Suddenly there are no jobs in some industry and like a chain reaction other factories become silent. Depression! Depression within one country, spreading to other countries. "World depression" is an idea in men's imaginations today, a fear in men's hearts, a cold feeling in the pit of men's stomachs. Limited oil, limited energy, limited warmth, limited shelter, limited food, limited transportation, limited supply of every need. What a bleak future men feel they face.
Individuals in the midst of mass limitations are also bowed down, depressed, frustrated, or at least annoyed by their own limitations, depending on the vividness of the conscious limitation at the time. People with too much to do are frustrated by the limitation of time. People with too many places they feel they need to go, too many places screaming for them to be there, are frustrated by the limitations of space. People with many talents and ideas, enough to fill twenty-four hours a day, are frustrated by the limitation of energy - by the frailness of the human frame and the constant need of sleep and refreshment. People with a myriad of ideas, but an inability to execute them, are frustrated by a limitation of talent or ability to carry them out. Individuals with a limitation of blood sugar or other purely physical inadequacies are frustrated by a limitation of the smooth functioning of their own bodies. People, suddenly realizing that the sheer passing of weeks, months, and years does make a difference to them personally, are frustrated by the limitations of the qualities they have seemed to have an unlimited supply of during the past. "I can't do what I used to do!" is a surprise limitation which speaks of a limitedness of life as a whole. Limited human beings-and the limitations in various areas-bring about a chain reaction in other human beings, as well as in history. Limited joy, limited peace, limited quiet, limited supply, limited strength, limited interest, all combine to affect not just one, but others whom that one touches.
Why dwell on the gloomy idea of limitedness? First, because it affects every one of us, and second, because there is a solution. We have an unlimited God who created a limited universe. There is not an unlimited supply of oil in the ground, and there is not an unlimited supply of energy in a human being. We are dependent upon an un-limited God, who is able to supply the desperate needs we each have in a variety of areas.
Paul writes in Philippians 4:19, as God makes real to him the need for us to know: "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory . . . ." A supply dependent only upon His riches. A supply as varied as our need is varied. A promise from the unlimited Living God to His limited, needy children of every century. What sort of things does He promise to supply? (In this limited space, only a few of His specific promises can be listed.) In this day of empty store shelves, empty oil tanks, and empty gas tanks, consider again the words of Matthew 6:25, 32, 33: "Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on . . . . for your heavenly Father knows that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteous-ness; and all these things shall be added unto you." An order is given-first, stop worrying and stop being afraid in the middle of the night. This is a negative order if you like to think of it that way. In the place of worrying, however, a positive action is commanded. So the second thing to do is to put first the realities of true truth concerning the existence of God and our truly being in His family. This doesn't mean quoting little platitudes to each other, but honestly crying out to God in our need and feeling, as we cry, the wonder of having an unlimited Person to cry to and to come to with our needs. However, in the reality of having someone to come to, the practical outworking of that is meant to be a demonstrable area of putting Him first in some way. How? I would say by allowing His interruptions to come first, before our own definite schedule.
We have a deadline to meet in our gathering in the wheat, making the candles, selling the insurance, cooking the meal - whatever is in our today's schedule - and suddenly a phone call, a person at the door, or a letter presents us with an urgent need to give some spiritual help, teach a Bible class, talk on the phone, write a letter, or sit down and talk to someone or give someone a meal. We "spend" our supply of time, energy, ideas, talent, and money for something the Lord has injected into the day, which could be either brushed aside as an interruption or recognized as His plan. What do we do? It is in these practical moments when it will cost us time, energy, ideas, money, that we make the decision to put the Kingdom of God FIRST. It is when a factory owner has a choice of making more profit-or being a really loving example to his employees of what a Christian employer can be like in sharing with his workers-that a man has a chance to put the Kingdom of God first. Yes, "seeking first the kingdom of God" does not mean a comfortable giving of a couple of hours a week in church, and writing a check to a "cause," but rather an openness, a sensitiveness to be led by the Lord in ways that interrupt the putting of our own way or interests first - materially, physically, psychologically. There is this condition placed upon "all these things" being added to us or provided for us. The third part of the condition is seeking His righteousness.
How can we know anything about His righteousness? We are so very limited in being righteous. We are limited by being "fallen men"-or "fallen people," if you will. His righteousness is perfect, as well as unlimited.
We find that out in Philippians 3:8,9, as well as in many other places. Think of this the next quiet moment you have-perhaps as you are waiting for a traffic light to change: ". . . I count all things but loss [I count everything as unimportant]. . . that I may. . . be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." Tie into your thinking the beautiful picture of the future, in which we are told that one day we are going to stand "faultless before the throne, dressed in His righteousness." We shall be clothed in that which is described in another place as sparkling white linen, the righteousness of Christ. He has given us this to look forward to because He died to make it possible. He took our filthy clothing in exchange for His white linen, at the moment He died to give us the possibility of accepting His death as a free gift to get rid of our sin.
The righteousness which we are meant to be seeking is something He has already supplied for us, an unlimited supply. He has told us that His strength is made perfect in weakness, and that His grace is sufficient for us. This was given to Paul after he had asked that a "thorn in the flesh" be removed. The answer God gives His children is always a real answer. Sometimes that answer is the supplying of the actual thing asked for, specifically and definitely. At other times the answer is the supplying of grace to bear the thorn - quietness in the middle of a continuing storm, victory in the middle of a continuing battle, comfort in the midst of a continuing sorrow. It is, however, when we ask the One who has the supply in an unlimited way that the answer is given which provides what we need at the moment. We need not continue our depression, frustration, or annoyance, as we are caught by a limited supply-spiritually, physically, materially. Middle of the night, or while waiting for the traffic light: Don't worry anxiously, but in every-thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, do let your request (for any limitation) be made known unto God. And then the peace of God which passes the understanding of yourself - others watching, demons waiting for you to - will keep your fearful heart and your mind that fills so easily with nagging worries. And it will all be through Christ Jesus - the Christ who is the Second Person of the unlimited Trinity.
