Finding Rest

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30

Notes

The word Come appears many times in the bible. It can mean to believe (Acts 16:31); to receive (John 1:12); to eat (John 6:35); to drink (John 7:37); to look (Isaiah 45:22); to confess (1 John 4:2); to hear (John 5:24-25); to enter a door (John 10:9); to open a door (Revelation 3:20); to touch the hem of His garment (Matthew 9:20-21) and to accept the gift of eternal life (Romans 6:23). There are many ways that we can find ourselves called to communion and relationship with Christ. In every instance, what is offered is a means to relieve our struggles, our pain and our hunger

The first step in this communion with Christ is to accept that we are failures, darkened by sin, and susceptible to our human nature. But that is not the end. If we accept Christ as our savior and allow Him to help us with our burdens, we are no longer alone with our struggles but supported and sustained. Rest is offered as a gift rather than a reward. Rest is not an action only to be taken when we are finished. It is an option to be taken at any given time when we are stretched beyond our limits.

Many of us are familiar with the phrase, “I’ll rest when I am dead.” This phrase misses the true essence of God’s purpose for us. We are meant to pause, reflect, learn, grow, and start again. We are not machines. Our hearts, minds, and souls are not meant to work continuously and without respite. Rest provides a time when we face whatever we cannot during the endurance and working phases. If we put off fears, pain, disappointment, and frustrations or are simply overwhelmed without rest to reflect on these struggles, those struggles will compound. What seemed to be frustration can turn to pain and even to discontentment, where we begin to find fault with everything and everyone except ourselves. Our time of rest is not a failure in the economic or societal propensity of the American work ethic to always be productive. Rest is productive. Rest provides the space for growth and maturity that busybody and work-alcoholic tendencies cannot supply.

I highly recommend an article published by Nautilus, Darwin Was a Slacker and You Should Be Too, a look at how many scientists did not work long hours and had profound discoveries. The article discusses the impact of intentional rest and how that rest is better for us than if we go full throttle with no end in sight. We are even commanded in the beginning of the bible to rest. God showed us in his supreme example the importance of pausing. We were created to learn, to create, and to work but we have also been created for rest.

Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Exodus 20:9-11

When God says to take on His yoke and to learn from Him, we learn to submit to the Lord in times of trouble. We do this by releasing our struggles to Him and not attempting to do everything on our own. We learn to trust in His guidance and have faith in His direction. And why? Because God is gentle and humble at heart. Unlike religious leaders or legalistic followers, we belong to a merciful and patient God who forgives and redeems. He relieves our struggles instead of adding to them.

Beyond the physical opportunity for rest, we are given the gift of rest for the soul. Our conscience is relieved of the full weight of despair and weariness. This rest can only be found when we let go of the need to be great or self-important and step out under the weight of our burdens. There is a limit to what mankind can achieve, and when we attempt to supersede God and work beyond our capacity, we try to claim glory for ourselves and step into a space we don’t belong. Instead, we should relieve our burdens to an all-powerful God who says he has a yoke that is easy and a burden that is light. How is it easy and light? Because God can do abundantly more than we could ever imagine.

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

Ephesians 3:20-21