COME AND REST

I love the way God meets me in the dark and sleepy hours of early mornings. I love the way he makes a divine appointment with my soul before my brain is aware that a new day has begun. One particular morning my Lord saw fit to fill me with a song. The lyrics played through my mind clearly and repeatedly:

Be not afraid
I go before you always
Come follow me
And I will give you rest.

Oh the sweetness! Where the holy collides with my every day, even on this morning when I’m floundering in self-pity. As the music continues and I confess the sin that entangled me, a familiar rest washes over me. That true rest reminds me of the sacred invitation held in Matthew 11:28-30 which I often accept because of life’s cruel, unforgiving and brutal nature, which brings me to a point of exhaustion. Yet, in that tiredness I’m reminded of the superior way to experience genuine rest - in the presence of Jesus Christ, my Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).

While Christ ministered on earth, he was exposed to everything you and I become burdened by. However, his perfect nature then and now is unaffected and that’s why we can trust in our Savior to care for us when we’re overwhelmed. We the ‘weary and burdened’ (v. 28) can come and rest with the One whose ‘yoke is easy’ and ‘burden is light’ (v. 30).

There’s nothing you and I will go through or carry that can’t be surrendered to the power of Jesus and his promise of Matthew 11:28-30. The Lord knows you more intimately than you think. He sees your heaviness and feels your pain and he’s not indifferent toward your suffering. That’s why he extended the offering of himself in today’s Scripture and why it’s upon us to obediently respond to the urging of our Savior’s words.

Lord Jesus, you are always faithful in coming to our rescue when we cry out during times of chaos and confusion. Prompt us by your indwelling Holy Spirit to come, quickly, into the rest you so freely offer.

Throughout This Day: Read and meditate on Jesus’s promise of Matthew 11:28-30. Surrender all that is ensnaring your heart and mind and come and rest with your Savior.