“I say to my soul ‘Soul, find your rest in God alone!’ Indeed, the hope I crave can only be found in God.” (pp Ps.62:5)
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Truly, “I will give you my peace—a peace of which the world is ignorant and cannot supply.” (pp Matt.11:28 + John 14:27)
Lord Jesus, you know everything about us—our beauty and brokenness, our weariness, heartaches, and burdens. You don’t want us to try harder but trust more. Where can the green pastures of rest, refreshment, renewal, and replenishment be found? Anywhere you are, Jesus.
Sometimes that looks like one or more burden bearing, grace-saturated friends—whose presence is a meadow of your mercy.
Sometimes it happens while we’re sitting in the same chair—but we travel to your occupied throne of grace by the Word, your Spirit, and worship.
Sometimes we find the green pastures of your rest and kindness, quite literally, in actual green pastures of nature, creation, and beauty.
Sometimes our spirits soar into the rarified air of your rest and peace as we offload the “need” for control, the “need” to be right, the “need” for people to agree with us.
Jesus, take us to green pastures of your choosing. What are our rest-needs?
- Rest from trying to be omni-competent, awesome, and anybody’s savior.
- Rest from over-stressing and under-believing the Gospel
- Rest from living as the pace of our idols not at the pace of God’s grace.
- Rest from looking more at the “What if’s?” of our regrets than the “Now that’s!” of your resurrection and occupied throne.
We gladly exchange our “heavy-laden-ness” for your “sufficient-grace-ness.” Jesus, though we resist, keep making us lie down in green pastures of your choosing. So Very Amen.
