For the average christian, certainly for those active in the give and take of living in today’s world, resting in the Lord is not easy. I do not mean that we question his power or wisdom, but most of us have an urge to go about solving our problems in our own way, and in our own strength. In doing this we cause ourselves untold heartaches, while our problems remain and even multiply.
“Hang loose,” a phrase popular with the young, is wonderfully expressive. A proper hanging loose in our daily lives can be the source of a new and satisfying realization of the presence and power of Christ. The same thought has been expressed for years in the words, “Let go and let God.”
Any traveler stumbling through the night in unfamiliar surroundings would rejoice to have a friend appear—one who knew the way and its pitfalls—and to hear him say, “Here, take my hand, I’ll lead you through safely.”
Perhaps one of the chief stumbling blocks for the Christian is the failure to understand that Jesus offers just such help and comfort. We have so depersonalized Christ that we think of him in abstract terms only, while he wants to be as close to us as hands or feet.
Christians themselves are often as “up tight” as other people in confronting the problems of life, both the so-called minor details of daily living and the major problems from which none of us can escape. But that is not true Christian living. God wants us to hang loose so that he can demonstrate his marvelous love and omnipotent wisdom and power.
Many a drowning person has gone down to a watery grave because he refused to relax in the arms of his would-be rescuer. Many a fledgling pilot has taken himself and his instructor to death because his hand “froze” on the stick. And many a Christian has lived in misery all the days of his life because he has never learned to hang loose and let Christ become the Lord of his daily life.
There are admonitions in the thirty-seventh Psalm that apply well to the Christian in his life’s journey. Take, for instance, the words “fret not.” What worriers we are! We forget that God is still sovereign and that he is perfectly aware of all that troubles us.
Another admonition reminds us to “trust in the Lord”—to turn everything over to him, for he is worthy of our trust. God is not a man, limited by time, space, and circumstances. His love, wisdom, and power are infinite, and he wants us to trust him, regardless of what our limited vision reveals.
“Take delight in the Lord.” He deserves our praise, worship, and thanksgiving. Instead, how often we act as though we were spiritual orphans. Our Father is living, and we should rejoice in this fact.
“Commit your way to the Lord.” Take your hand off the steering wheel of life and let him do the driving. Childish? No, it is just the opposite, for it is the only way to peace and safety!
“Be still before the Lord.” Stop talking and listen. God must sometimes look on us with a sense of frustration as he sees our feverish activity, when what we need is to be still and know that he is God.
“Refrain from anger and forsake wrath.” Losing one’s temper only confuses the issue and can lead to serious complications. We need to relax and realize that the battle is the Lord’s, not ours.
“Depart from evil and do good.” It is impossible to be relaxed before God if we are living in disobedience to his revealed will. David made a clean breast of his sins and cast himself on the mercy of God. He wrote, “If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened” (Ps. 66:18). Why? Because nothing is hid from him: “Thou has set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance” (Ps. 90:8). We can never hang loose in God’s presence if there is unconfessed and unforsaken sin in our lives.
“Wait for the Lord.” How hard we find this, because we are impatient and prone to think that our estimate of time and circumstances is correct. God knows all about our problems before they develop, and he has the solution if we will but let him work out his perfect will.
Unquestionably ours is the most uptight generation in history. The amazing developments of science have brought the world an unprecedented sense of uncertainty and tension. Men everywhere have in some degree a feeling of impending disaster. As one listens to the “news” of the world, how little there is to bring joy and hope! “Hang loose” in such circumstances? For the Christian the answer is an unequivocal yes. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear …”—regardless of what happens.
Some will say, “This may work for others, but the burdens of my heart come from without. I am concerned about loved ones and other people, and this legitimate concern is a burden I cannot bear.” Listen: “Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved” (Ps. 55:22). We need to pray for the faith and grace of Isaiah, who said, “The Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been confounded; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know I shall not be put to shame” (Isa. 50:7). Isaiah had learned to hang loose through faith in the faithfulness of God.
The Apostle Paul too demonstrated the ability to hang loose, even though he suffered for his Lord as few have. “If God is for us, who is against us?” he wrote, certain that the one to whom he had committed his all was the omnipotent and faithful Creator.
As we read our newspapers and hear the news broadcast hour after hour, Satan tempts us to give way to despair. But the Christian can relax in the truth Moses proclaimed millenniums ago: “Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting thou art God” (Ps. 90:1, 2). The simplicity and majesty of knowing that our God is from everlasting to everlasting places him above and beyond every circumstance of life. We can be quiet and confidently watch God work.
How tragic that even Christians live as though the solutions to their problems had to be of their own devising! How wonderful to turn these problems over to an all loving, all wise, and all powerful God and watch him work!
“O for the faith to do this,” some may exclaim. Well, God will supply the necessary faith if we place all we have in his hands. The psalmist prayed, “Let me hear in the morning thy steadfast love, for in thee I put my trust. Teach me the way I should go, for to thee I lift up my soul” (Ps. 143:8). If we pray this prayer from the heart, we will find ourselves ceasing to struggle in the entanglements of life. Then we will find tension lessening in the realization that God is undertaking for us.
Hanging loose requires faith, and it requires obedience. That is all God requires of us.
