Finding Rest. . .

Sunday is supposedly a day of rest. I’m thinking that it isn’t always. Some people must work or lose their job. Pastors and church leaders might be ‘resting on the inside’ but they are not idle. In our church with a massive crowd for brunch each week, the volunteers who prepare the food and those who set up, and those who clean up are busy working. We also have friends that see needs and their mantra is, “I’ve got to do something” regardless of the day.

Some time ago God used a word search to enrich this passage:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28–30)

There are two ‘burdens’ in these verses. The first is ‘heavy laden’ and the original Greek word refers to a large cargo that is by no means easy to carry. The second one is translated from a different Greek word and basically refers to the invoice that is attached to the cargo.

The contrast is evident; when Jesus wants me to do something, it will not wear me to the bone but be relatively easy. Why? Because when it is from Him and done in reliance upon Him, the Holy Spirit is involved and while my efforts may require muscle, they will not be wearisome. I will not feel like I’ve been carrying a big load.

Piper quotes Lamentations 3:22–23: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Then he adds, “With every day’s measure of pain, he gives new mercies. . . .  God’s mercies are new every morning because each day has enough mercy in it only for that day. This is why we tend to despair when we think that we may have to bear tomorrow’s load on today’s resources. God wants us to know that we won’t. Today’s mercies are for today’s troubles. Tomorrow’s mercies are for tomorrow’s troubles.”

Isn’t that true? Instead of being concerned with today’s invoice, I can get overloaded with tomorrow’s to-do list. I can worry if I don’t know what to expect, or if I think my burden will weigh more than my time or energy can handle. It is easy to forget that Jesus isn’t into letting His people carry more than we can handle — like two day’s problems in one day, or tomorrow’s issues all night, both robbers of energy and forgetting the lessons from manna in the wilderness. (Exodus 16)

Jesus supplies what I need for today. This is not only a day of rest but a day of worship and fellowship with His family. He will fill my heart with joyful worship as long as I kick out plans for the afternoon, or what to have for supper, or what is on my calendar for Monday, or all next week’s responsibilities. He wants me to experience the delight of His faithfulness and new mercies on this day and entrust tomorrow and the future to Him, including the future of what is going on in this world, what is lacking, how many family members we have that have not yet said yes to Him, or anything else that piles a burden on my mind. Focus on Him is incredibly restful.

PRAY: Jesus, I get tired when I take on a burden that is not from You. Or when I try to deal with obligations that are not going to hit me until next week. Planning ahead isn’t wrong, but letting the future become a burden indicates I’m not listening to You and definitely not resting in You. Forgive me. This kind of thinking is fleshy and sinful. Today I come to learn from You and to rest — with just the invoice.

 

Waiting for what happens next . . .

 

 

READ Isaiah 29–32

If I were an animal, it would be a black and white zebra, no shades of gray. This is how I see Scripture and see life. The Bible says: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8) It also says, “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” (James 4:17) Sin/black. Righteous of Christ/white.

Looking at the world from this perspective means I must work at it to see goodness. Jesus did say there is none good but God! My view is not popular (most people think humans are basically good). The biblical prophets were not popular either. I’m reading Isaiah and can identify with his words of doom for the wickedness in his world. I can also identify with the way he inserts positive promises from God that counter His judgments against sin. Not wanting to have a ‘black’ day, I’m trying to focus on these positives, even though some of them announce how the Lord will deal with evil. For instance, He speaks against the foes of His people:

But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff. And in an instant, suddenly, you will be visited by the Lord of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire. And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel (His city), all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her, shall be like a dream, a vision of the night. As when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he is eating, and awakes with his hunger not satisfied, or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he is drinking, and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched, so shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion. (Isaiah 29:5–8)

He also speaks against the sin of those who are His people:

For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” But you were unwilling, and you said, “No! We will flee upon horses”; therefore you shall flee away; and “We will ride upon swift steeds”; therefore your pursuers shall be swift. A thousand shall flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you shall flee, till you are left like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain, like a signal on a hill. Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. (Isaiah 30:15–18)

He makes promises for their future saying they “shall weep no more” and He will hear and answer their cries. Even though He will send adversity and affliction, He will not hide but give them direction saying, “This is the way, walk in it.” They will get rid of their idols and He will bless their work, their animals and make them prosperous when He “binds up the brokenness of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.” (Isaiah 30:19–26)

God also warns them not to go back to their old life, or rely on any other power but Him. (Isaiah 31:1) He will send them “a king (who) will reign in righteousness” and other godly leaders, each like “a hiding place from the wind, a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.” They will see, hear, understand, even “speak distinctly” and “the fool will no more be called noble, nor the scoundrel said to be honorable.” (Isaiah 32:1–5) These days, when good is called evil and evil is called good, this promise is precious!

In describing the mess back then, He says the Spirit will be “poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is deemed a forest” and “justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruitful field. And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever. My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.” (Isaiah 32:14–18)

My thinking is usually ‘now’ rather than ‘future’ so these promises tend to make me ask “What about today?” and God says to me that this is the kind of God He is, a God who is gracious, compassionate, and just. He will make things right because He is righteous. My part is to trust Him, walk in His ways, and rejoice in Him as I wait to see what happens next.