Come and Find True Rest

Have you ever gone on holiday to rest and have a break from your stressful job, or just needed a break from your routine, and you think of a warm place with a beach in the distance, and you go, but when you come back you are actually more tired than before, and now you need a holiday from your holiday?

It is funny, but this has happened to me one too many times. I would be so shattered at school and so tired of homework and assignments. Then we would go on a family holiday to the beach. We would go and swim, play football, eat great food, and do all the things that people do when they go on holiday. Yet when we came home, I would be exhausted. I am mainly talking about my body being tired, but my spirit would not be rested any more than my body was.

If I was going through something, the distraction of the beach or the food may have been enough to take my mind off it for a while, but sooner or later I would be tormented with reality. This is because, although holidays can be restful and restorative,  rest is not found at a beach. Rest is not in a Piña colada. True rest can only be found in Jesus.

This all sounds very well on paper, you may say. But how does it work? Well, in His word we see that He invites the tired ones, the ones who can’t keep going, and the ones who are exhausted from life to come to Him. What does He promise them?

He promises rest for their souls. Jesus knows that our hearts take a beating sometimes. He is not offering rest for our physical bodies, but rest in that place where our life springs up from. In Proverbs we read that the heart is the wellspring of life. If we have a broken heart, we have a broken life. If we have a tired heart, we have a tired everything.

Jesus is gentle and kind, and the rest He promise is not in any way compulsory. It is not something He is forcing upon you. It is optional. His presence is sweet. It is gentle. It is like lying on green grass on a sunny day, next to a lake, listening to the birds worshipping Him, under the shade of a tree, just spending time with him.

All we have to do is come to Him just as we are. We are not to try to fix things on our own, or try to calm the storm, or put the pieces together. But we can come with our mess, and let Him sort it all out. We can find hope in knowing He will not turn us away. Our burdens will be lightened and no longer heavy on us. We will be rested, not tired, taken care of, not left to deal with things on our own.