Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope

Shauna: I'm Shauna with Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope. Thank you for joining us.

Joni Eareckson Tada: I'm going to tell you something that you already know. You feel it, you see it, you sense it. It's our frenetic, overstimulating culture, one marked by busyness, digital noise, anxiety, and a pervasive sense of fear and unease. Honestly, for me, just going home on the freeway makes me exhausted, what with every driver in a rush to race around us.

It's why lately I'm loving Jeremiah 6:16: "This is what the Lord says: 'Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.'" Does that sound wonderful? It explains why I'm a fan of Christian authors from centuries ago when it was a little quieter: the sermons of Spurgeon, books by the Puritans or missionaries or saints like George Müller.

He lived in the 19th century during the Industrial Revolution. Back then, the environment could have been just as frenetic. It was a progressive culture crowded with machinery and automation, child labor, busyness, smoke, and noise. George Müller, the Christian evangelist and philanthropist, saw all this. He also saw that his fellow believers seemed so tired, so weary, and just unhappy. They were distracted from Christ and His kingdom cause.

In 1841, George Müller stood in the crossroads. He looked for the ancient path, he asked for the good way, and found rest for his soul. In fact, he preached about it and wrote about it in many pamphlets. What was his secret that blessed so many people? Well, here is what he said.

Guest (Male): "The first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day is to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not how much I might serve the Lord, how I might glorify the Lord, but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man might be nourished.

For I might seek to set truth before the unconverted, I might seek to benefit believers, I might seek to relieve the distressed, and yet not being happy in the Lord."

Joni Eareckson Tada: Thank you, George, because that is the ancient path that has sustained the most stalwart Christians long before 1841. In our frenetic culture, filled with unrest and anxiety, we need to get ourselves happy in Jesus first thing in the morning. If you wake up and sense that your soul is not glad in what God has done for you, if you feel exhausted or distracted, your first duty and mine is to get ourselves happy in God.

How do we do that? Search the Scriptures and get a blessing out of them. Confess your neglect. Read the Gospels—not reading as though it only passes through your mind like water running through a pipe, but consider what you read, ponder over it, and apply it to your heart. Speak to God about it.

This is what I do. I think about the loveliness of Christ, especially His cross and the life He purchased for you and me there. Meditate on that mercy, because you will only be happy in Jesus when you're convinced that He's worth the effort. Always remember Jeremiah's words, for they are so relevant for today: "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient path, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your soul." I know George Müller would give that a thumbs up.