“Fret not thyself in any wise” (Ps. xxxvii. 8).
A life was lost in Israel because a pair of human hands were laid unbidden
upon the ark of God. They were placed upon it with the best intent to
steady it when trembling and shaking as the oxen drew it along the rough
way, but they touched God’s work presumptuously, and they fell paralyzed
and lifeless. Much of the life of faith consists in letting things alone.
If we wholly trust an interest to God we can keep our hands off it, and He
will guard it for us better than we can help Him. “Rest in the Lord and
wait patiently for Him. Fret not thyself in any wise because of him that
prospereth in the way, because of the man that bringeth wicked devices to
pass.” Things may seem to be going all wrong, but He knows as well as we;
and He will arise in the right moment if we are really trusting Him so
fully as to let Him work in His own way and time. There is nothing so
masterly as inactivity in some things, and there is nothing so hurtful as
restless working, for God has undertaken to work His sovereign will.