Reading thru the Psalms, a phrase leaped off the page at me. “You will eat the fruit of your labor…” (Psalm 128:2 NIV)
I sat up in bed reading those words, tired from a day at work and the struggles of life. My belly is full, my body is sheltered and in comfort, I am safe and free. I work. Hard. Regularly. And I complain because other people don’t always.
I have enjoyed much fruit from my labor.
But….as I know oh so well, what I enjoy has been given to me. Yes, I have worked. I have labored. But I have only participated in what God has laid before me.
I dedicated my workspace to Him. I committed myself to be always mindful of my promise to Him, to put Him first in all things, including my day to day routine. I fully realize that the workplace I enjoy was provided from His gracious Hand.
When I forget that, when I find myself laboring alone, out from under His easy yoke, I soon find myself exhausted. When I simply trust Him with the details and take one moment at a time, one day at a time, my energy level seems so much greater. Why do I forget that everything is NOT up to me?
I don’t want to just eat the fruit of my own labor. Why do that, when He has prepared such a feast and invited me to dine?
I purpose to get my eyes and trust back on Him. I purpose to be a servant to God and to whomever He places in my life. I repent of the pride and haughtiness that assumes I have the power and ability to accomplish anything of worth on my own, and once again recommit myself to seek His will.
And I return my head to my pillow this night expecting Him to quiet my soul.
“O LORD, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty; Nor do I involve myself in great matters, Or in things too difficult for me. Surely I have composed and quieted my soul; Like a weaned child rests against his mother, My soul is like a weaned child within me. O Israel, hope in the LORD From this time forth and forever.”(Psalm 131 NASB)
