Now What

Resting in the Lord
when life doesn't make sense

By Gary R. Mayes
Crossway Books, $9.99

ISBN 0-89107-856-8

Review by Patrick McArthur

Secret Is Rest, Don't Run

Why can't I run as fast as my computer? Why can't I have it all now? What's the bottom-line answer? So many of our quests and questions today, like the ones above, are framed in terms of speed. To answer these persistent concerns, Gary R. Mayes reminds us of a timeless formula: Our need for rest in the storms of contemporary life is found in waiting on the Lord.

In his recently published Now What: Resting in the Lord when Life Doesn't Make Sense, Mayes convinces readers that spiritual rest may be the single most-needed commodity in today's world. His carefully organized book is divided into three major sections: the Secrets of Rest, the Enemies of Rest, and Companions on our Search for Rest.

How we make the "waiting room choice" is a big barometer of our internal state. Mayes reminds us of the pattern we find among men and women in Scripture: Noah who spent decades building a boat where there was little or no rain, Moses who lived for forty years in exile with his people in the wilderness, Elijah who waited alone for the necessities of life by the brook Kerith, and Elizabeth who endured her childlessness when it was thought to be a sign of God's judgment. Making the choice to wait in trust on God is a tough one, but Mayes convinces us it is our only wise one.

In describing the enemies of rest, Mayes draws clear word pictures of impatience, discontent, and discouragement. He knows the territory, the games we play, the pressures we feel, the grind of living in a world that seems always to want more and more and to want it faster and faster. But he also helps us realize that real contentment, i.e., rest, comes from trusting the daily enabling power of Christ.

Mayes does not overlook the fact that sometimes in order to have spiritual rest we have to take action and it may be very difficult to tell what we should do. He offers five basic "filters" for making decisions in these situations. We need to examine our motives, our contentment, our prayer life, our time, and whether or not we are resting in the Lord.

Gary R. Mayes is the pastor of Faith Community Church in Santa Ana, California, and he obviously has real skills in counseling people in today's harried world. His use of biblical examples is especially good. Who would have thought of David as the greatest king of Israel when he spent years on the run and afraid for his life? Or who could have guessed that the Apostle Paul would have such influence on shaping the future church when he was sidelined in prison? Hindsight teaches us much about enduring a season of waiting in order to fulfill God's calling.

Each chapter concludes with a summation called "The Bottom Line." These 13 summary sentences are reprinted at the back of the book and make a fitting ending-something to read and reread when you hear the ads to "Be all you can be" and "Control your own destiny."

Patrick McArthur is a reviewer of Christian materials from Portland, Oregon.