Have you tried everything and still failed to find the peace you long for? Have you wept, and prayed, and afflicted yourself in various ways, and still peace seems as far off as ever?
Perhaps you have been told to pray and wait; and so you have prayed and waited until your load has become unbearable, and it seems as if it will crush you. The language of your troubled heart is: "No one could ever feel as I feel."
You are filled with fears by day, and fear to close your eyes in sleep at night, because you are afraid of waking in everlasting separation from God.
You may have wondered why God made you, and have said: "Oh! I wish that I had never been born! There is hope for others, but not for me. I could welcome death; but as it is, I am afraid to live, and I am not prepared to die. Oh! what shall I do?"
But the secret of this long and continuous distress of mind is brought out in the very question, "What shall I do?" If we realized our ruined state by nature, and our complete helplessness to satisfy God, we would cease from our own efforts to obtain peace with God.
"What shall I do?" The same question was asked of the Lord when He was here on earth.
"Then said they (the Jews) unto Him (Christ), What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?" John 6:2828Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? (John 6:28).
And now for the answer; and from Christ, Himself, too: "This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." John 6:2929Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. (John 6:29).
"What shall I do?" Thank God! There is nothing to do, for the work of salvation is all done, so that I can have peace now by simply believing and accepting what Christ has done for me.
Christ on the cross has so fully done the work, and so fully atoned for sins, that there is nothing to do; it is all done.