Posts
"DO NOT FRET..."
– Psalms 37:1a (NKJV)
– Psalms 37:1a (NKJV)
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Towns had put the cartridges back into the Coffman starter, trying ... to work up some faith in the machine before morning. These cartridges at least were real; they would turn the engine, and the engine would run. Maybe at full revs the big Thorne and Crossley prop would somehow manage to drag the whole heap of junk across the sand on its skids until they ran into a water point.
He’d asked Stringer, “Why do we have to risk getting airborne? We could just taxi out, all the way.”
“I don’t think you mean it seriously, Mr. Towns. I should remind you that the coolant system is designed to operate chiefly at cruising airspeed, therefore the engine would overheat and seize up within ten miles or so, leaving us a hundred and fifty miles short of the nearest oasis. Also the skids wouldn’t stand up to the continuous shock; I have designed them to withstand one take-off and one landing, and their calculated life is approximately one minute.... This airplane has been designed to fly, Mr. Towns. It isn’t a toy to be wound up and sent along the floor.”
Who are these people? Why are they (apparently) stranded in a great desert with a junked airplane? Will they ever reach a “water point” alive?
Sorry, no spoilers! Read The Flight of the Phoenix, by Elleston Trevor, 1964. (No—not the movie! The book!)
But, the point is that Frank Towns—former pilot of what's now the “heap of junk”—seems to have momentarily forgotten the key difference between a dune buggy and an airplane: that the latter is designed for three-dimensional travel. (Translation: flight!) It simply cannot “taxi out” for any significant distance without self-destructing. It must go up! It was created to go up.
You may have guessed by now that this post isn’t all about aeronautics. So, then… As a disciple of Jesus, there is nothing more vital for me than to hear from the Master. I need His guidance with day-to-day decisions, and I need a revelation of the unique plans and roles, the unique mission, that He has for me. And, most importantly, I need the wherewithal to get it all DONE.
But all too often, I bounce along the desert floor with only a vague sense of His will, striving to get it all done in my own power, and blundering into every dune and sandstorm along the way. I must go up! I was created for three-dimensional travel. And yet ... days turn into weeks, weeks into years, and altitude is still zero. Just when I think I’m on the verge of accomplishing something meaningful for God ... oo-pphhhhh! Another mouthful of sand! Failure. Stress. Anger. I’m seizing up!
At the time of this devotional post, we're about four weeks into January. Most of our New Year's resolutions have seized up, and we're sitting 150 miles short of the nearest water point, right? Well, David, the “man after God’s own heart,” knew something about connecting with the purposes of God and GETTING THINGS DONE. His Psalm 37 is a precious and timeless message on the principles of "WAIT ON THE LORD," "do not fret" (in our modern vernacular: "DON'T STRESS OUT"), and "TRUST GOD TO CARRY YOU THROUGH."
In fact, these aren't just "oh, by-the-way" suggestions. On the contrary, they are bedrock eternal truths that ring out again and again across the pages of Scripture.
- Isaiah 40:31 tells us that if we WAIT ON THE LORD, He enables us to soar like an eagle, run without fatigue, and walk without tiring. All of which speaks of a supernatural suspension of forces in the spiritual realm analogous to the physical law of GRAVITY.
- Matthew 11:28-30 is our Lord Christ's command to all who are weary and HEAVY-laden (STRESSED OUT) to come to Him for rest. He invites us to yield our neck to be hitched into His yoke--His purposes, His WORKLOAD--which at first seems counterintuitive. But it comes with a solemn promise that we'll find it surprisingly EASY and LIGHT! Yet another suspension of the GRAVITY principle through the power of Him who works in and through us to will and to DO His good purposes.
Dear Christian, we ignore these powerful principles--which span both Old and New Testaments--to our own detriment. New Year's resolutions ... any-time-of-year resolutions, for that matter ... even if they are sincerely based on what we understand as God's will for our lives, lead only to fretting, stress, burn-out, and SEIZING UP.
He’d asked Stringer, “Why do we have to risk getting airborne? We could just taxi out, all the way.”
“I don’t think you mean it seriously, Mr. Towns. I should remind you that the coolant system is designed to operate chiefly at cruising airspeed, therefore the engine would overheat and seize up within ten miles or so, leaving us a hundred and fifty miles short of the nearest oasis. Also the skids wouldn’t stand up to the continuous shock; I have designed them to withstand one take-off and one landing, and their calculated life is approximately one minute.... This airplane has been designed to fly, Mr. Towns. It isn’t a toy to be wound up and sent along the floor.”
---
Who are these people? Why are they (apparently) stranded in a great desert with a junked airplane? Will they ever reach a “water point” alive?
Sorry, no spoilers! Read The Flight of the Phoenix, by Elleston Trevor, 1964. (No—not the movie! The book!)
But, the point is that Frank Towns—former pilot of what's now the “heap of junk”—seems to have momentarily forgotten the key difference between a dune buggy and an airplane: that the latter is designed for three-dimensional travel. (Translation: flight!) It simply cannot “taxi out” for any significant distance without self-destructing. It must go up! It was created to go up.
You may have guessed by now that this post isn’t all about aeronautics. So, then… As a disciple of Jesus, there is nothing more vital for me than to hear from the Master. I need His guidance with day-to-day decisions, and I need a revelation of the unique plans and roles, the unique mission, that He has for me. And, most importantly, I need the wherewithal to get it all DONE.
But all too often, I bounce along the desert floor with only a vague sense of His will, striving to get it all done in my own power, and blundering into every dune and sandstorm along the way. I must go up! I was created for three-dimensional travel. And yet ... days turn into weeks, weeks into years, and altitude is still zero. Just when I think I’m on the verge of accomplishing something meaningful for God ... oo-pphhhhh! Another mouthful of sand! Failure. Stress. Anger. I’m seizing up!
At the time of this devotional post, we're about four weeks into January. Most of our New Year's resolutions have seized up, and we're sitting 150 miles short of the nearest water point, right? Well, David, the “man after God’s own heart,” knew something about connecting with the purposes of God and GETTING THINGS DONE. His Psalm 37 is a precious and timeless message on the principles of "WAIT ON THE LORD," "do not fret" (in our modern vernacular: "DON'T STRESS OUT"), and "TRUST GOD TO CARRY YOU THROUGH."
In fact, these aren't just "oh, by-the-way" suggestions. On the contrary, they are bedrock eternal truths that ring out again and again across the pages of Scripture.
- Isaiah 40:31 tells us that if we WAIT ON THE LORD, He enables us to soar like an eagle, run without fatigue, and walk without tiring. All of which speaks of a supernatural suspension of forces in the spiritual realm analogous to the physical law of GRAVITY.
- Matthew 11:28-30 is our Lord Christ's command to all who are weary and HEAVY-laden (STRESSED OUT) to come to Him for rest. He invites us to yield our neck to be hitched into His yoke--His purposes, His WORKLOAD--which at first seems counterintuitive. But it comes with a solemn promise that we'll find it surprisingly EASY and LIGHT! Yet another suspension of the GRAVITY principle through the power of Him who works in and through us to will and to DO His good purposes.
Dear Christian, we ignore these powerful principles--which span both Old and New Testaments--to our own detriment. New Year's resolutions ... any-time-of-year resolutions, for that matter ... even if they are sincerely based on what we understand as God's will for our lives, lead only to fretting, stress, burn-out, and SEIZING UP.
But when we release ourselves from the expectation of accomplishing one iota of His will in our own power, when we instead let Him hitch us up alongside Him in His yoke, that is when all the forces of spiritual GRAVITY are nullified because He is the one doing the work--alongside us and THROUGH us.
This is the first in a series of 30 posts, entitled "Feed on His Faithfulness," where we will explore the exciting promises of Psalm 37 and related Scriptures. We'll find PRACTICAL steps to DE-STRESS our Christian lives and rediscover the JOY of the journey, as we wait on the Lord and grow our trust (faith) in Him to carry us through--in HIS time, in HIS way, and for HIS glory, hallelujah!
This is the first in a series of 30 posts, entitled "Feed on His Faithfulness," where we will explore the exciting promises of Psalm 37 and related Scriptures. We'll find PRACTICAL steps to DE-STRESS our Christian lives and rediscover the JOY of the journey, as we wait on the Lord and grow our trust (faith) in Him to carry us through--in HIS time, in HIS way, and for HIS glory, hallelujah!
Why not pray ...
"Dear Father,
Forgive me for the besetting sins of fretting, stressing, and burning out. Remind me each time I'm tempted to "taxi out all the way" that You designed me instead to GO UP. That I MUST go up or seize up! Help me break the cycle. Hitch me to Your yoke, that I may find rest for my soul in You, and You alone.
In Jesus' name. Amen."
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Originally published as a “Bradstix” devotional on the National Minute of Prayer Facebook page 1/26/2025.
