Sweetly Resting

by Mary D. James

But the LORD is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge.  Psalm 94:22

This hymn was unknown to me until this morning. It reminds me of one of my favorites, Rock of Ages. I recommend listening to the full song as performed by choir on YouTube under the heading Sweetly Resting (In the Rifted Rock). It's very stirring!

Writer Mary D. James came from a Christian home and began teaching Sunday School at age 13. Her life and works, including starting an orphanage and writing around 50 hymns, denote a true heart for Jesus. She was a prolific writer and a dedicated leader in the Christian movements of her day. May my life reflect Jesus' love as well as hers!

I'm so thankful those early hymns are not lost to us. The words are captured on pages of music and remain powerful all these years later. Read the words of verse 3 of this hymn:

"Peace which passeth understanding, Joy the world can never give, Now in Jesus I am finding; In His smiles of love I live." Followed by the chorus: "Now I'm resting, sweetly resting, In the cleft once made for me. Jesus, blessed Rock of Ages, I will hide myself in Thee."

Life here on earth is not kind. The road is so often dark and twisty, with painful lessons and devastating circumstances. These are similar, but also somehow unique to each of us. I believe this is intentional. We can help each other bear the hard times, but we can't fully grasp the suffering of someone else, no matter how close they are. And the peace we can bring each other is so limited. But God... Only one true God could identify with each of us so personally. Only one true God can still, after thousands of years, bring such amazing peace and joy! How He does these wonders is baffling. In that I find comfort. If I could understand His amazing works, He wouldn't be God. But He is. 

Did you catch the end of verse 3? "In His smiles of love I live." WOW!! Jesus smiles at me?! This is difficult to imagine. He IS love. And He promised over and over again that not only would He never leave us, but He will guide us through. Sometimes His guidance must lead to that cleft in the Rock to hide in Him while the storm rages. Oh, how He must love it when we go running to Him for shelter and help! 

Joy, though? Joy? I think of happiness when I hear the word joy, and that doesn't exactly go with hard times and immeasurable pain. But it's actually so much more! Joy doesn't depend on circumstances like happiness does. Joy is a deep, constantly flowing river in my spirit. It is an unexplainable part of the shelter God is to me. Because no matter what horrors the enemy of my soul throws at me, he is powerless to touch, much less destroy, the LOVE my God invites me to live in. And there's my constant hope. The hope nothing and no one can ever take away. That's why Almighty God is my hiding place. He welcomes me in and makes sure I'm "Sweetly Resting" in His loving arms - even in the middle of grief, pain, loss, and shame. I just need to learn to run to Him. He'll smile His love to me, and He'll handle the rest.