I don’t rest very much. Even on Sabbath, I struggle to slow down and relax. Of course, with little children, slowing down and relaxing take on a whole different meaning. Add to that, the Greek obsession with living by the clock and stuffing our calendars, and life becomes about rushing around, hurrying, stress, and “the next thing on the list.” I wonder if this isn’t a way to keep us from reflecting on life, what God’s done in it and the awesomeness of who He is and some of the insanity of what we do…. Anyway, Skip wrote an interesting article this morning about that familiar verse in Psalm 23 about still waters. I thought I’d post it here as a reminder (to me) to stop going so fast. Read it here. >>>> Here’s what I wrote in the comments afterwards: For me, rest is one of the hardest things for me to do. My mind goes a million miles a minute through all the things I need to accomplish – for my family, my work, and so on. My family is starting to keep the Sabbath, although I must say it’s not necessarily restful (yet)… but it’s a sweet time to be together and a great excuse to say “no” to some of the other things that beg for attention. Even then, I find myself struggle to just relax. It’s an interesting thought that God’s not in a hurry. Because we don’t get the in-between times, it’s easy to forget that it was years and even decades between the events we read about in the Bible, even those that tell us about Yeshua’s life often clump together many days and week’s worth of teachings (like in Matthew). God isn’t Dora (if you have little kids, you know what I mean). He isn’t constantly saying, “Let’s go go go!” and rushing off to the next obstacle on the map. I think part of the problem (at least with me) is that Greek mentality of time… We live by the clock (especially as a teacher). God doesn’t. I love the fact that there is no Hebrew word for time. That alone should tell me something about the lack of priority that He places on it. Thanks, Skip, for reminding us to stop and breathe and be (in an active, restful way, of course).
Matthew 11:28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. How beautiful are these words! There are days when I am so tired that I’m not really sure how I’m awake. There are times when the budget isn’t working, the bank account is almost empty, my children aren’t well, my husband’s job is not going well, I have a huge project that’s overwhelming me and no time to do it in, and it’s almost too much to bear. I’m not made to carry all of that! I may be responsible for dealing with it, but God didn’t make me strong enough to carry it. At least, not all alone. That’s why I love this verse. It’s all about laying those things down. I can trust God to carry those things and to give me rest. I can put them down at His feet and trust Him to take care of all the details. His rest is more refreshing than any break I can find or make. But I have to come. He’s not going to chase me down and yank my burdens away from me. That’s rude. He allows me to make the choice to come and surrender. He’s waiting for me. And he’s really happy when I get there because He’s big enough for my issues. He’s bigger than my storms. He loves to help me. But He’s waiting for me to remember how much I need Him.