Scripture Reading: Luke 10:38-42; Isa. 30:15; Phil. 4:6-7; Matt. 11:29
One day as our Lord came to a certain village, a sister named Martha received Him into her home. She loved our Lord and wanted to do many things for Him in order to please Him. She did this and that; she prepared this thing and that thing. She did many things, but then she became disturbed. Not only was she disturbed, she also worried about many things, and her mind was troubled. Martha, like those who are ill at ease, sought to blame others by going to the Lord and saying, "Lord, does it not matter to You that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to do her part with me" (Luke 10:40). But the Lord answered, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; but there is need of one thing, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her" (vv. 41-42). Oh, the Lord said that only one thing is needed! Martha did many things, but the Lord said that there was need of only one thing. We plan one thing after another and do one thing after another. It seems that we have planned many things and done much, yet there is need of only one thing! There are not many needful things; there is only one thing which is needful!
Brothers and sisters, what is the one thing that is needful? It is nothing other than Christ Himself — this is what Mary chose. We can have this needful thing only by sitting quietly before the Lord as Mary did. Every Christian should work, and it is wrong if anyone does not work. The Bible tells us that the man who will not work should not eat (2 Thes. 3:10). We should work diligently. However, we often find no rest within when we work; we may even feel that we have forgotten the Lord. Sometimes we are so busy from morning till evening that we do not find time for prayer or Bible reading before the Lord. When we labor, do some spiritual work, or give assistance to a brother or sister, our motive is for the Lord, yet eventually we become distracted; our heart is disturbed. The problem is that there are too many things that cause us to forget the Lord and let Him go. Let us listen to the Lord, who is telling us that only one thing is needful! This very thing is to have rest in the Lord and to be content in Him.
How can we live a peaceful and unperturbed life? Let us see what the Lord said. He did not say that one should not work, nor did He say that one should spend half of his time working and the other half dealing with spiritual things. He did not say to Martha that it was wrong to do many things, but He reminded Martha not to let these things enter into her and disturb her. The Lord Jesus did not say that she had done too much; He said that she had considered too much. He did not say that she had taken up too many tasks; He said that she had taken up too many worries. You may work from morning until evening, but you should not be disturbed by it. Many people do not have much to do outwardly, yet they are very busy inwardly. Some people have already spent five sleepless nights worrying about work that needs to be done five days from now. For instance, you only need one hour to visit a friend tomorrow, yet you spend four hours thinking about it in your bed. This kind of thinking is too much! The Lord did not tell us not to work. He said that we can work as much as we need, but that our heart should not be disturbed about it. The Lord will not say that we have done too much; but He will say that our heart should not be disturbed.
Brothers and sisters, this is the Christian life. We should work and not be lazy. It is necessary to work and to be occupied, but we should be at peace within. There should only be one thing within us — Christ. This is what the Lord shows us. The Lord asks only one thing of us — that we remain untouched by whatever circumstance we are in. Outwardly, we may be very busy doing many things, but inwardly there should be only one thing that we do not let go of by any means. Although we may be busy outwardly, we should maintain our fellowship with God. Thank God that there was not only a Martha but also a Mary. Mary chose the best portion — fellowship with the Lord. The Lord wanted Martha to learn the way of inward rest from her sister, not the way of work. It is all right for us to be a Martha outwardly, but inwardly we should be like Mary, who was in complete union with the Lord. Although outwardly we can be very busy, inwardly we should fellowship with God and be at rest. This is a most precious experience.
Brother Lawrence had to prepare meals for many people each day. If we were in his place, we might become so busy that we would lose contact with God. However, Brother Lawrence's inner fellowship with the Lord was not disturbed by external things at all. He was indeed a man who knew the presence of God! Although he was outwardly very busy all the time, inwardly he was sitting at the feet of the Lord all the time. Despite the many outward things he did, he was not distracted by them at all.
This is a most blessed way of life. Every one of us can live this kind of life, which is not in the physical realm or in our feeling but in the depth of our being. Then we will be in constant fellowship with the Lord, living a peaceful and serene life in His presence. We must remember that God has not asked us to be lazy and do nothing. Rather, the Lord wants us to shoulder outward activities on the strength of His indwelling. Although we may be busy from morning until evening, no person or thing should deprive us of our inner peace and rest. We should be busy outwardly but peaceful inwardly. Brothers and sisters, we must not allow the outward things to come and touch us; we have to resist these outward things and not allow them to affect us. However many things there are, we should not let any of them enter into our being. Within us there should be only one person — Christ. Inwardly, our only occupation is to have fellowship with Christ; if we allow other things to come into us, our inner peace will flee away.
The tabernacle in the Old Testament was divided into the outer court, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. Within the Holy of Holies was the ark in which God dwelt. In the Holy Place, there was the showbread, the golden lampstand, and the golden censer. In the outer court, there was the altar and the laver. Between the Holy of Holies and the Holy Place, there was a separating veil; between the Holy Place and the outer court, a curtain. Only the priests and the Levites could enter into the outer court, and only the priests could go into the Holy Place. Finally, only the high priest could enter into the Holy of Holies once a year with the blood.
In the New Testament, God speaks through His servant declaring that we are the temple of God (1 Cor. 3:16). The Christian life is likened to God's tabernacle or temple. The outer court was very busy indeed; thousands of Israelites made their offering there, and many Levites spent their days slaying thousands of oxen and sheep. While there were many in the outer court from morning to evening, there was no one in the Holy of Holies. The curtain outside the outer court could be lifted again and again; many people could go in again and again, but the veil over the Holy of Holies remained undisturbed, and no one could enter in. It might have been noisy in the outer court, but the Holy of Holies remained serene and quiet; it might have been very busy in the outer court, but the Holy of Holies was not affected at all. This is the life of a Christian. We may be in contact with thousands of people, but inwardly we should remain undisturbed. Although we may be busy outwardly, we can be undisturbed in spirit and have uninterrupted fellowship with the Lord inwardly. This is what it means to have peace and rest in our human spirit.
Christians should live in a state of continuous prayer. This is not a matter of praying ten minutes or half an hour, or a brief prayer in the morning which ceases as we go to work. As we live before the Lord, we must maintain our fellowship with Him even though we are outwardly busy. We should have a regular time for prayer and Bible reading, but apart from this time, our inner life should continue to have fellowship with the Lord.
Remember that the strength of our life depends upon the fellowship of our innermost life with God. Our innermost part should not be controlled or affected by outside factors. When we are quiet inwardly, our outward actions can be made subject to our inward being. Although there is no lampstand, censer, or showbread in the Holy of Holies, it guides all the action of the tabernacle. Therefore, if we live a life of peace and rest in the Holy of Holies, external things cannot touch us; neither can the environment shake us. When we live in the Holy of Holies, we will see that God saturates everything; we will have an intimate and uninterrupted fellowship with God which no outside forces can sever.
Brothers and sisters, the one failure in our life is inward disturbance whenever we have outward activities. Many times, even before outward activities come, we are already disturbed within, and this disturbance deprives us of the strength to deal with outward activities. We should know that the strength of our living comes from rest, quietness, and trust. God's Word says, "In returning and rest you will be saved;/In quietness and in trust will be your strength" (Isa. 30:15). Anyone who is easily irritated cannot have strength before God; the same is true for anyone who is disturbed in heart. We should remember that our strength depends upon inner quietness and trust.
There is an eye in every hurricane. Although the wind turns furiously around the eye, the eye itself is very quiet. Our strength lies in a life that revolves around a stable center. Outward activities may be blowing like furious winds, yet within we can be most peaceful. "In quietness and in trust will be your strength." Our thoughts must not be disturbed because of the multitude of outward activities. If we were disturbed, we would not be able to control our environment. Consider the sea. Although there are high waves, strong winds, and the surface of the sea may be in great turmoil, the depths of the sea have no movement at all; everything is very peaceful below. Those who study marine life on the ocean floors are convinced that there has not been movement for years. The life of a Christian should be characterized by quietness and trust. We cannot expect to be idle, but we can expect peace and quietness in the midst of a busy daily life. There can be much activity outwardly, yet there is peace and quietness inwardly. The peace that we seek is inner peace. When there is inner peace, we will not fail. No matter how circumstances change, we should live before the Lord as if nothing has happened. We should realize that the Lord within wants us to live a peaceful life.
Our Lord was never affected by the outward circumstances. On one occasion, the people in the synagogue persecuted Him and wanted to push Him over a precipice. If it had been us, we would have run away. But the Bible says that the Lord Jesus went His way, passing through the midst of them. These people wanted to kill Him, but He was not concerned and went His way (Luke 4:28-30). When a storm raged, the Lord was fast asleep, but the disciples cried, "We are perishing!" Why did they cry? They had no rest. But the Lord remained unaffected (Matt. 8:23-27). When the band of soldiers and officers came to arrest Him, He asked them, "Whom do you seek?" They answered Him, "Jesus the Nazarene." Jesus said to them, "I am." When they heard this, they drew back and fell to the ground. Those who tried to make an arrest were scared by the One they sought to arrest (John 18:2-6). Oh, the Lord deserves our continuous praise. He was never moved by outward events but lived according to His inner being.
How can we have this inner peace? The following Scriptures tell us two conditions.
First, Philippians 4:6-7 says, "In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses every man's understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus." The first thing that enables us to have peace is to bring all our matters and requests to God. Our work, our need, and the difficulties we encounter should all be committed to the Lord. We should say to the Lord, "Lord, I commit all these things to Your hand." We can commit to the Lord whatever we encounter through prayer, petition, and thanksgiving, and the peace of God will keep our heart and mind. God will keep us. All we need to do is make our request known through prayer and petition with thanksgiving. As soon as we encounter any matter, we have to commit that matter to God immediately. Once we have made such a commitment, God's peace keeps us. Whenever we make our commitment to God, His peace will come. As a result, we will be free from outside influence all the time. Regardless of how great the difficulty or how numerous the activities, the peace of God in us will guard our hearts.
Second, Matthew 11:29 says, "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." The first condition is faith, and the second condition is obedience. God allows many things to come upon us. If we reject what God wants for us, if we do not accept His will, or if we have other desires, we will lose our rest within. We should realize that rest comes from consecration. Therefore, when any difficulty arises, we need to take His yoke and learn from Him. Although we may not be able to act according to our own wish and may have to suffer, we will have rest. We will have rest if we say to the Lord, "Lord, whatever You want me to do, I am willing." However, if we are not willing to obey, if we choose our own pathway or our own way of life, or if we cherish our own desire, we will lose the rest. All of our personal desires and dissatisfactions will deprive us of our peace within. Peace will fill our heart when we say to the Lord, "Lord, everything that You give me is the best. I am willing to take Your way, choose Your will, and set aside my own wish."
May the Lord grant us grace to believe that He can bear all our burdens and difficulties and make us willing to yield to His will for us. May we be able to respond to all of God's demands on us by saying, "I am willing." Oh, may the Lord show us that rest only comes from faith and obedience in Him. Rest cannot come as long as unbelief and self-will exist. If we believe in God and obey Him, no outward event can disturb us any longer. Our constant fellowship with the Lord will enable us to bear all outward things. May we all see that in rest shall be our strength.
