No Fret Zone

Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion... which cannot be moved, but stands fast for ever. The hills stand about Jerusalem...so does the LORD stand round about his people, from this time forth forever more. The scepter of the wicked shall not hold sway over the land allotted to the just...
Psalm 125:1–3

I know sometimes it feels like an upside down mortgage in the power struggle we have over the land Christ has given us (the hearts and minds of our children, family, ministry, work, victory over bad habits, etc.) but that is a just a feeling. The reality is spelled out in the above psalm or God is a liar.

We need to make sure that we are "The Just." That we are the ones who live by faith in the work and grace of the One with the plan. That we are not fretting away the time He has given to us.

The Lord taught us a lesson about this recently. A few weeks ago God let us know that Hell was going to push back against some real spiritual progress and growth we have been experiencing. He cautioned us to, "Sleep in your armor." We took that to mean about what you would expect. Don't be uncovered, be vigilant, be careful, stay protected.

But that word became a point of concern. We became fearful rather than cautious. Would our finances suffer an attack? Would someone become ill? Sleep was lost over it. Time was lost fretting over what an attack might look like.

Psalm 37 tells us we are not to fret because it causes harm. Joyce Meyers says "Fear is faith in what the Devil says." I looked up fret and found it comes from a root word that means 'to devour' and that is just what it does. It eats away at our time and our confidence. It kills our peace, takes us out of the game and puts us on the bench.

The Lord told us to stop fretting over anything and then He pointed something out to us. He reminded us that His instruction was to SLEEP in our armor. We were to be careful, covered, but we were also to sleep. To rest in Him. How did we miss that?

You cannot sleep and fret at the same time. Sleeping is better. The scepter of the wicked shall not hold sway over the land allotted to the just. That is a NO FRET ZONE if I ever heard of one.

Can we take the hint and shall The Just, trust? What do we have to lose? Surely not sleep. He is the confidence of all the earth we are assured. He is good for every promise He has ever made to us in His Word.

That same no-fretting psalm has a wonderful promise in verse 18. I am sleeping with it under my pillow:

THE LORD KNOWS THE DAYS OF THE UPRIGHT; AND THEIR INHERITANCE SHALL BE FOREVER.



Sleep well.



(Ben sleeping in Daddy's Hands by Kim)