Rest for His Loved Ones

Experts say that worry and anxiety actually can cause deep depression. The Bible told us this long ago. Proverbs 12:25 says, “Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad” (verse 25 NKJV).

We might think that worry is somehow a virtue, but worry actually can be a sin because it’s a failure to trust God. Nothing touches the Christian that has not first passed through the loving hands of God.

Think of the prophet Daniel, a man of God. He faithfully delivered the word of God to kings, and no one intimidated him. But some who knew Daniel, other officials in the kingdom, were very jealous of him.

Because Daniel was such a man of integrity, they couldn’t find anything in his life to trip him up. So they decided the only way they could bring something against Daniel was to find something concerning him and his God.

They knew that Daniel had the habit of praying every day. So they convinced King Darius to sign a decree that no one could pray to anyone except the king for the next 30 days. And if someone disobeyed the decree, he would have them thrown into a den of lions.

Daniel, however, prayed as he always prayed, and immediately the authorities arrested him and threw them into a den of lions to be fed to them alive. King Darius, who liked Daniel, spent the entire night worrying. Meanwhile, Daniel slept like a baby in the lions’ den. And the next morning, the king gave the order to bring out Daniel, who was very much alive.

Psalm 127:2 says, “God gives rest to his loved ones” (NLT). We can rest in the Lord, knowing that He is in control and at work in our lives.