If you took a moment to think of everything you did the last week, how does it make you feel? Tired? Overwhelmed? Stressed out? Well, NEWS FLASH—you get to do it all over again this week!
If we look at all the “stuff” we have to do, according to the world’s standards, it can be super overwhelming. Do you feel burdened? Are you weary? Do you dread having to do all that “stuff”? If you said YES!! ((raises hand)) I’m right here with you! It is all just too much stuff. It feels like one big “heavy sigh”.
The fact is, the truth is, it is too much. When we are handling all the world’s “stuff” by ourselves…it is GOING to be too much. When we leave out the rest of, and in, God and try to do it all…we might get it all done…but we don’t feel restful and more often than not we feel weary and burdened.
The best news is, though, rest is available. TRUE rest. We have to take a moment to find it, and it’s worth it. When we have that true rest, we can get through the week ahead full of rest and peace. We become overwhelmed. BUT instead of being overwhelmed by the world’s “stuff”, what if we became overwhelmed by the goodness of God and all that he is!
We should start out with…knowing what you know doesn’t always mean it’s easy to believe. But knowing what you know makes the hard stuff easier to get through, because we have the promises of God to rest on.
So, weary people, what does Jesus say to us? What does Jesus promise us?
The promise is found in Matthew 11:28-Come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I WILL give you rest.
It’s simple, right? Come to Jesus and HE WILL give us rest. All we have to do is set down all of our “I can do it alone-ness” and go to Jesus. That’s it. Then? THEN He will give us REST!
Coming to Jesus means something else, too, it means being still.
Let’s look at Psalm 46:1-3
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.
The end of verse one is pretty clear in implying we will have troubles. Through verses two and three it says how we will not fear even THOUGH all the troubles happen. Why? God. Go back to the beginning of verse one. Because God is our refuge and strength. We can scoot on down to verse ten and read “Be still, and know that I am God.”
It simply involves two things from us…be STILL and KNOW. We can rest in knowing that God is God. God is who He says He is. He doesn’t wake up in the morning and decide what He’s going to be like that day…He just IS who He IS. If he IS who he IS…then we can KNOW. We can rest in the promise God gives us- the promise of His refuge, strength and help.
What exactly IS refuge? By definition refuge means: a condition of being safe or sheltered from pursuit, danger, or trouble.
Can we be renewed in that? I think so. By definition renew means:give fresh life or strength to; revive.
Psalm 46 says that God is our refuge and strength—we can be safe in him and be renewed because he gives us strength.
Now, let’s go take a look at Psalm 16
Psalm 16:1-2
Protect me, God, for I take refuge in you.
I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have nothing good besides you.
We can (and should) take refuge in God. He will protect us when we find our refuge in him. He is our Lord and outside of him, really nothing is as good as he is.
now, verse 5
Lord, you are my portion and my cup of blessing; you hold my future.
God is and should be our everything. God IS enough for us. He’s all that we need. We can rest in knowing that HE has our future in His hands.
Now…lets move to verses 8-9. My favorite verses of this Psalm.
I always let the Lord guide me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad and my whole being rejoices; my body also rests securely.
Verse 9 starts off with the words therefore…it’s always good to ask yourself “what is it there for?” These verses are amazing verses to ask “What is it there for?”
Verse 8— I always let the Lord guide me.
We make that choice, we make the choice to let Him guide us. We MUST decide to allow HIM to lead our lives.
The rest of verse 8— because He is at my right hand, I WILL NOT BE SHAKEN.
Verse 9— THEREFORE (what is therefore, there for?) BECAUSE…because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
THEN…the rest of verse 9…my heart is GLAD! and my whole being REJOICES; my body also RESTS SECURELY.
But? But how do we know we can rest securely?
I’m glad you asked!!
Let’s take a trip to Hebrews chapter 6 verses 17-19
Hebrews 6:17-19
Because God wanted to show his unchangeable purpose even more clearly to the heirs of the promise, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.
Where is the refuge…when we flee to God (again, it takes a bit of action from us) we will have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us. And we have this hope as an anchor for our soul, firm and secure.
We can take refuge in Christ because he GIVES it to us when we flee to him for it. We can be secure in that refuge because hope comes along with it. And if we’re firm and secure…we aren’t going to be shaking.
Another Psalm shares that same promise.
Psalm 62:1-2
I am at rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I will never be shaken.
Now, let’s jump back to Psalm 16.
Verse 11 ends the Psalm with
You reveal the path of life to me; in your presence is abundant joy; at your right hand are eternal pleasures.
We have ABUNDANT JOY in his presence and we have an amazing reason to rejoice right there!
In fact, Romans 12:12 tells us to
Rejoice in hope.
(that same SECURE hope we just talked about)
Since we have reasons to rejoice it is a cakewalk then, right?
Nope, not a cakewalk at all. And I am confident you all already knew that. But, thankfully, we’ve been promised peace through it all.
John 16:33 tells us
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.
Jesus is promising us in this world we will have tribulations. Just like Psalm 46 encourages us that God is our help in trouble, Jesus, HIMSELF is encouraging us in John. He has overcome the world. We don’t have to worry. We can “take heart” or as other translations word it “be courageous” because HE has overcome the world. He has overcome it all. NOW, that’s a promise to rest in!
We find Habakkuk showing his resting in the promises of God in Habakkuk 3:17-19
Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls,
YET I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places.
So, even THOUGH all those “bad things” will happen. What does Habakkuk end with? YET I WILL. Even though XYZ. Even if XYZ. YET, I WILL rejoice. I WILL take joy. God IS his STRENGTH. And the same is true for you and me, God will be our strength today.
Because God’s promises never change. We just have to place our rest and trust in those promises. We need to just GO TO HIM.
What was that first promise we talked about?
The promise found in Matthew 11:28-Come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I WILL give you rest.
Our burdens qualify us to come to Him. He wants us to come to him. He’s standing with arms wide open, waiting for us. God doesn’t run from us, it’s we who run from God.
Run to the Lord.
Proverbs 18:10 gives us something more to rest and rejoice in…and a way to be renewed.
The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are protected.
A strong tower in ancient times was a central place where people could run to when facing danger and then find safety and protection. Sounds exactly like our God, doesn’t it?
David wrote in Psalm 61:2-4
From the end of the earth I will cry to You, When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
For You have been a shelter for me, A strong tower from the enemy.
I will abide in Your tabernacle forever; I will trust in the shelter of Your wings.
David was overwhelmed, too. But even in that “overwhelmed-ness”, what did he know? He knew that God had been a shelter to him before and would be again. He knew that God is a strong tower—a place of protection. David had to trust. Just like we have to trust. Because…God hasn’t changed…and won’t change. He is our strong tower just as he was David’s and just like He will continue to be.
Of course, we’re human. And because we’re human…we aren’t perfect. We can know what we know. We can quote the Word. But that doesn’t mean we are always believing the Word. The enemy loves to mess with us. The enemy loves to overwhelm us with his lies…not with the overwhelming goodness of God.
BUT we can focus on God’s truth and be prepped for battle against our enemy.
How can we be at battle for our resting, renewing and rejoicing in God and what he has gifted us with?
* Fight the lies with truth. We can always speak truth into the lies. Truth of the God who CANNOT lie. Find some verses that fight the lies you believe most often. Cover the lies with the truth of those verses. Write the verses out and hang it up where you’re going to see it. Commit it to your memory. Hide that verse in your heart, like it says to in Psalm 119:11 I have stored up your word in my heart.
*Help carry another’s burden. Of course, we can and DO find rest from our burdens through Christ. BUT we’re also called to carry each other’s. Galatians 6:2 Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
We know how much relief we feel when someone grabs something heavy from us…imagine the relief we can give each other when we carry other “heavy” stuff from this world. When we can help lead each other to THE One who can take that heavy from us, and for good. He wants it. He wants it all. Quit taking it back from him. Lay it down at the foot of the cross and leave it there. TRUST that He will take it and that He IS in control. Because, the truth is, God absolutely DOES give us more than we can handle. It’s so we can rely on him and give it all to him. We don’t need to make sense of God, we just need to surrender and keep following him.
*Be a truth spreader. I’ll say one word…glitter. Glitter gets all over. I think all you have to do is LOOK at it and you’re covered in it. You try to get glitter off of you and it gets on something else…then something else…eventually it is all over! Imagine if we were GLITTER spreading the truth all over. Imagine the impact we would have when we encourage each other with the truth of God’s word. Of God’s promises. Of what HE says.
*Remember that you do not need to do it all. I believe that you shouldn’t, either. Say NO. This leaves room for the “best” YES that you can give. At the same time, make room for interruptions when they’re needed. Acknowledge the little nudges from God, that his plan is above ours. Remember to follow HIS will. James 4:14-15 Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are like vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes. Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” Enjoy life in the waiting.
*Now, this one will sound opposite of the last. Be a doer. But a doer of the things that matter for God. A doer of the word. Don’t just hear what I’m sharing God says, but DO what God says. James 1:22 But be doers of the word and not hearers only. Invest in the things that matter for ETERNITY. See where God has placed you and how you can bring him glory EXACTLY where you are!
*The last tip to get you ready for the finding rest battle is to find God’s familiar faithfulness always. Rest in the EVEN IFs of the life you live and tell those EVEN IF things that YOU WILL. YOU WILL trust in God’s faithfulness to you. You will remember that He has been there before and he is here now and will be again. You can find true REST in what he promises, because he has promised it and he doesn’t change. Never, ever, does the Lord change.
Rest. Renew. Rejoice.
Find your rest in the Lord that promises it to you.
Get renewed by the Lord that promises to do that for you.
Rejoice in the Lord of your Salvation.
♡ ap
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