Reluctant Retiree

Years ago I was trekking in the mountains when it began to rain heavily. We immediately turned back, but we had miles to go. At one point the trail ended at a muddy road. It was slippery, so I jumped down to the road. Unfortunately I sunk into the mud up to my knees. I needed someone to help pull me out of the mud. I can look back at it now in amusement, but at the time it was serious.

In life we often find ourselves knee deep in some mess. It could be of our own making, inflicted by others, or just the combination of events. In any case, it seems like we are stuck or at least bogged down. We need someone to provide us the strength and/or wisdom to pull us out of our messy situation.

Psalm 25:15 gives us God’s promise when it says, “My eyes are ever toward the Lord, for he will pluck my feet out of the net.” When we are stuck in our messy situation, we can look to the Lord and He will pull us up through the mire. We may still have some mud on us, but we will be free to move forward.

Jesus often said,”The Kingdom of God is at hand.” We don’t live under a monarchy, so we have trouble understanding His words. Generally in a kingdom, the king issues commands to his servants and to the general population. Besides expecting complete obedience to his commands, the king rewards servants and his subjects for faithfully performing duties in a manner that benefits the kingdom. Faithful servants may even be granted more responsibility or higher positions in the kingdom.

The Kingdom of God refers to God’s rule over our hearts. If we faithfully serve our King, God, then we honor Him. As we follow Him in a way that benefits and expands His Kingdom, we will receive blessings from the King.

In Matthew 25:23 Jesus said, “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.'” Jesus made this comment at the conclusion of His story about a faithful servant. He is promising God’s blessings to those who faithfully follow Him and benefit His Kingdom. Let’s choose today to faithfully follow and serve the King of kings.

I have taken several treks in the Himalayan Mountains. On these treks we always saw porters carrying large quantities of supplies. They would put the supplies in large baskets called dokos and strap them to their heads. They carried huge loads up and down the trails. Without the porters, mountain villages wouldn’t have access to the supplies they needed or be able to sell their goods in other communities. On some of our treks we hired porters to carry our backpacks. Hiking through the mountains was all we could manage, while the porters did the same hike carrying three or four backpacks.

God sees the burdens we carry through life and He understands. He is eager to help us carry these problems, troubles, and struggles. In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Our souls become weary with the burdens we try to carry by ourselves. Jesus offers to help carry our burdens. He only asks that we come to Him and hook ourselves up to His yoke. By hooking into His love and strength, our burden becomes light and our souls find much needed rest. In this position we also learn how to live and stay on the right path.

My enemies come against me every day. They seek to discourage and destroy me. I am not talking about physical enemies and battles. I am speaking about enemies like anger, fear, worry, loneliness, hate, judgment, selfishness, and disappointment. My enemies want me to fight them in my own strength, because they know that I am weak.

The psalmist faced his own daily battles, but he found the way to victory. He wrote, “For you equipped me with strength for the battle; you made those who rise against me sink under me. You made my enemies turn their back to me, and those who hated me I destroyed.” The psalmist turned to God when his enemies approached. God gave him strength for the battle and destroyed his enemies.

God stands ready to fight our enemies. He will equip and strengthen us. Our enemies will turn away, because they know that they cannot fight against the Lord’s power. Victory begins with a single step. That step is trusting in God’s power when facing our enemies. Then victory is assured.

I grew up and lived most of my life in Southern California. Therefore I am fully aware of what it feels like to experience an earthquake. There are two types of quakes, one that feels like you are in a boat going over ocean waves. The other type is a sharp jolt or series of jolts. I can’t say that one type of quake feels worse than the other, as they both are frightening. By God’s grace, I was never in a place that was seriously damaged by an earthquake, although severe damage did occur close by. You can prepare for an earthquake, but you can’t fully predict the damage.

Earthquakes can certainly shake us up for a period of time. But emotional and relational quakes seem to disturb us much longer. After all, how do you quickly put behind you such disturbances as a sudden life threatening health diagnosis, a death of a loved one, a broken marriage or a severed relationship? These circumstances shake us to the core and the consequences can be devastating.

We can also prepare for these types of quakes. As with earthquakes, we need to build a strong and firm foundation. Psalm 16:8-9 says, “I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.” The firmest foundation is one that cannot be damaged or shaken. For the troubles that life brings our way, the strongest foundation is faith in Jesus Christ. When we continually dwell in His presence, putting Him first, He keeps us from being shaken. In fact, instead of damaging us, these emotional earthquakes lead us to joy as we see God protect and strengthen us. Let’s start building a firm foundation for life by beginning a life of faith in Jesus Christ.