Read His Words Before Ours!
Jeremiah 6:16
Matthew 11:28-30
1 John 5:1-3 
Full disclosure?
I’m maybe the last person who should be writing about resting.
At least, resting in the physical sense. I haven’t slept more than four consecutive hours in…well, I can’t really remember how long. In fact, one of my three Littles has been fighting a nap for about an hour at this exact moment. Our children are still quite small, so they are completely dependent on us at this point. We have spent time sleep-training, but two out of three have literally been teething for eternity.
Kidding.
Kinda. But really, in between wife-ing, growing a business, personal projects, mom-ing… You get the picture. My point is that physical rest is rather elusive for me these days. Lucky for you, I’m writing about spiritual rest. (See what I did there?)
Physical rest, while vitally important, is not always a reality for everyone. Some of us may be working by day and studying or attending class by night. Or vice versa. Some of us may be in the weeds with our little ones, surviving on unintentionally cold coffee and hugs. Some of us may be caring for a parent or a sick or elderly loved one. Some of us may wrestle insomnia or any number of physical maladies that disrupt our physical rest. When the long nights grow longer and our patience wears thin, our spiritual rest is what sustains us. Sometimes when we deal with adversity, trials, illness, or fill-in-your-blank, we find ourselves so deep in the valley that we can’t even see the path in front of our feet.
Have you been there?
Are you there?
It’s okay if you are.
I am, some days, too.
It is in these vulnerable, broken moments that Jesus whispers.
Come to me. All who are weary and burdened. I will give you rest.
He isn’t watching us from afar or oblivious to the challenges we face as He does priestly things on a pretty chair in the sky.
Jesus is right here with us in the dirt, in the struggle.
Come to me.
This isn’t a question, but a loving command. The Bridegroom to his Bride.
All who are weary and burdened.
Oh Loves, this is for me as much as anyone!
He sees our tired eyes, our deflated countenance. The weight of all we carry. He knows when our body is sore and our spirit feels dull.
And He says I’m right here.
Swallow your pride, recognize that you can’t do this alone and just come to me. You were never meant to carry this alone.
I will give you rest.
He isn’t talking about physical rest here. He is talking about the spiritual rest that He wraps around our spirits, hearts and minds when we are in right relationship with Him. As we spend time in His word, time in prayer and time worshiping Him, we are obeying His command.
Sometimes we hold ourselves back from Him because we subconsciously think He can’t or won’t be able to carry it for us. That it’s too messy, or too big, or too trivial for Him, whatever “it” is. We simply can’t process all of Who He is because…well, He IS God. We could (and will) spend eternity with Him and still fail to scratch the surface.
Whatever our reason,
when we resist bringing our spent selves to Him,
we are actually operating in disobedience.
So practically, how can we obey Him in the fray, in the long days and longer nights?
We set aside time for and with Him daily. Time to study His word. Time to ask Him what He would say to us. Time to dialogue with Him, to share our hearts. Yes, He knows what is there already, but He wants us to communicate with Him….and for us to want to communicate with Him. We set aside time to worship Him for all that He is and all He has done. By making Jesus our priority, even in especially in our deepest valleys, we are being obedient. As we begin and continue to build relationship with Him, He is faithful to wrap us in spiritual rest that can never be touched by our physical weariness.
Jesus, thank you for your incredible love for us. Thank you for seeing us where we are…and being with us. Help us to recognize when we are holding on to things that we need to lay at Your feet. Thank you for being our rest.
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Thanks for joining us today as we journeyed into Resting Week Two! Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!
Looking for other journeys from this theme? Here’s a link to all past studies in Resting!