November 4

We are inspired by the story of the Spartans who, with an army that was a fraction of the size of the Persian hoard they faced, stood their ground to the last man. There is a verse in scripture that admonishes that when we have done all that we can do, we simply ‘stand’ (Ephesians 6:13).

There is a place of literally resting in the awareness that we have served His great purpose in a situation and at that juncture, we must simply leave the result with Him. Hebrews 4:3 says, “We who have believed, enter that rest.” “That rest” is the place of relinquishing all to Jesus.

When we trust Him, when we know in the depth of our spirit that He has our lives in His hand, when we believe and are sure that He is ours and we are His for time and eternity, there is a quiet peace that is ours that nothing else can afford us. It is a literal relinquishing of our entire being to His eternal purpose.

When we know in the depth of our spirit that it is His intention to do us good, when we know that we know that we are His for time and eternity, we can say like Job, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust him” (Job 13:15), and like Paul, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).