Return unto your rest, O my soul!
(Edward Griffin, 1770-1837)
"Return unto your rest, O my soul - for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you." Psalm 116:7
To rest in God, is . . .
to be satisfied with Him as our portion,
to take Him for our supreme good, and
to feel that we have enough and abound while possessing Him - though everything else is taken away.
"Give me," says the believer, "the enjoyment of my God - and I desire no more. Allow me to feast on heavenly truth - and I shall never complain that I am poor. Let worldlings divide the globe among themselves - let emmets contend for this little heap of dust; I have God - and I ask no more. Come wars and pestilence, come poverty and death - you cannot rob me of my portion."
Must it not be substantial rest . . .
to have the infinite God for a portion,
to have all the restless desires of the mind composed,
to feel no anxious apprehension for the future,
to know that if everything which time or death can destroy, were removed - the whole of one's portion would remain;
to feel that nothing can injure, nothing impoverish, nothing perplex or disturb?
Ah, give me this portion - instead of thrones and kingdoms!
"Whom have I in Heaven but You? And earth has nothing I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever!" Psalm 73:25-26