Saint Aurelius Augustine (354-430) had his finger on the pulse of all men, when he confessed, “O Lord, you have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless, until they find their rest in Thee” (Confessions, 1.1). Ever since our first parents gave up restful communion with God in favor of servile hiding from him and were banished from the Garden of Eden (lest they take and eat of the Tree of Life and live forever in their restless, fallen condition – Ge 3:22), we have been a people in desperate need of rest. Our forebears in the faith wandered in the Egyptian wilderness and rest was hard to come by. The Prophets of the OT called out to a people unable to wring rest out of their rebellion. Indeed, before Augustine ever confessed, Christ called out, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Mt 28:11-30, ESV).
The Lord knows us and knows our afflictions. In Mark 6:30-44 we have a beautiful picture of this knowledge of the Lord and the compassion that flows from Him in light of this knowledge.
The enormous privilege of being a pastoral intern with Phil Ryken at historic Tenth Presbyterian Church afforded me many other undeserved and exciting experiences. One of the most special of these experiences was the opportunity to help Linda Boice--Dr. Boice's widow--break down her husband's library that had continued to remain in the church office seven years after he went to be with the Lord.
Whenever I’m leading the first few meetings of a small group or discussion group. I like to say, “You all can talk or I can talk. I prefer that you talk but I have no problem filling space with words, after all, I’m a pastor.” We all laugh and after a few people take me up on my challenge, the discussion typically is off and running with little input from this loquacious pastor.
Christian leaders face many difficult, daunting, demanding, and, sometimes, dangerous situations – both outside the church and inside the church. That’s why the military model of leadership is used so commonly in Scripture. And yet the vast majority of us are cowards. We avoid danger. We walk away from conflict. We prefer comfort and ease to sacrifice and pain. Christians especially may have a tendency towards timidity rather than bravery. Fear comes more naturally than faith.
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