Relax by Asther Isbrucker licensed under Creative Commons 2.0.

Luke 10:38-42 (ESV)
³⁸ Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. ³⁹ And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. ⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” ⁴¹ But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, ⁴² but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Sometimes I am like Martha who gets distracted by trying to ‘serve’ Jesus rather than just simply focusing and listening to God. I tend to have a hard time with this because I like to be productive and do things for Him when I needed to learn how to still my soul and just relax in Him. My thoughts consisted of checking things off my imaginary to-do list for God – reading bible, writing for Him, thinking up of a good deeds, etc… to please God. Then I realized that sometimes I lose focus of God by trying to ‘serve’ rather than simply enjoying His presence.

God even commanded a day of rest on Sabbath for He knew we needed to rest from our labor and so that we can spend quiet time with Him. I think when we still our soul and have less of our earthly thoughts/worries then we will start to hear God more clearly. Quiet times can help us to reflect, to rest, and metaphorically speaking, to stop and smell the roses. I have found quiet times to be very rewarding and refreshing to the soul.   It’s never too late to start practicing!

Mark 2:27 (ESV)
²⁷ And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

Matthew 6:25-34 (ESV)
²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? ²⁸ And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹ Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
³⁴ “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

While driving up to my hometown, I was suddenly tailgated at a high speed (60mph or so) and the truck seemed very close. I couldn’t turn out of the way since there were cars on my left. He continued to tailgate me for a while. When there were space for me to turn right, but was prevented by doing so as he turned right quickly and passed me. As he was passing me, he decided to cut me off and could’ve hit me if I didn’t slow down immediately. As I slowed down immediately to avoid being hit, I received a very hostile look and gesture. I felt evil and hostility so strongly. I prayed to God and asked Him for protection from this evil and for justice. I mentioned that I will not receive this curse from him. I also asked for strength to forgive him and for him to learn from his mistake. My thoughts were racing, I asked for so many things at once – to have proper response, to have a clean heart, to ask for justice (hoping that police will pull him over), protection, to forgive, not to curse him, for him to learn his lesson, to rebuke evil I received, to take refuge in His love, etc..

Guess what?

He was pulled over by two police cars about 30-45 minutes later as I passed him by. I thanked God profusely for He has provided justice and the fact that He always watch over me. I felt relieved and also watched myself to make sure I didn’t rejoice too much. Just that he needed to learn his lesson and hopefully stop doing that in the future. The following scripture came to mind –

Proverb 24:17-18 (NIV)
¹⁷ Do not gloat when your enemy falls;
when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice,
¹⁸ or the Lord will see and disapprove
and turn his wrath away from them.

God does protect HIS LOVED ONES! He is jealous and very protective!! Take refuge under His wings, He will watch over you!

Psalm 105:15 (NIV)
¹⁵ “Do not touch my anointed ones;
do my prophets no harm.”

Psalm 91:14-15 (NIV)
¹⁴ “Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
¹⁵ He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.