Finding rest these days can feel impossible!
Have you ever heard the statement, “There’s no rest for the weary”?
My husband and I were talking on date night last night about all the stresses people are dealing with today. There’s always been stress, but where both husband and wife have to work full-time to make ends meet, plus inflation is a huge stress for our day. Not to mention the need of keeping up with the entire world on social media (well, not exactly😝, but I think you know what I mean).
As I was praying over the podcast episode for this week, the Lord gave me the sweetest thought about rest from His Word.
I love those times when you read your Bible and it’s almost as if the two of you are in an ongoing conversation. You pray about something, look down, and then there’s the answer. Your relationship with the Lord doesn’t always work like that, but I love when it does.
When you are seeking God for rest,
sometimes your “bread from Heaven” or “Spiritual meat” can be like convenience food where it’s like He feeds you out of the palm of His hand exactly what you needed for that day. On the other hand, sometimes my Spiritual food reminds me of the cows I’m raising. It takes months to fatten them up, then they go to the butcher, then the meat is processed, then you go pay for it and pick it up, then it goes to the freezer, and then finally the cooking process begins.
There’s some worries I have prayed years over, and there’s some that God has answered right away.
This blog post is all about how you can find rest Spiritually.
Speaking of rest…
Have you ever looked up the word, “Selah”? Some scholars believe it to mean an interlude in a piece of music. The singing is paused, and you simply listen to the musician play a beautiful piece in between the verses. Selah could also mean, “To pause or reflect on what was said.” I think there are times in life you must take time to pause and reflect on all the things God has already done, all the things He’s given you, and all the promises He’s already made and kept.
As a mom of five, resting and reflection time is not always easy to come by.
The house can be loud and busy most of the time. Can the Lord meet us where we are? Yes. Are we able to receive answers to prayer while we are washing the dishes, folding the laundry, and supervising our children? Absolutely. Although, if you are feeling stuck in your Christian life, I would challenge you to pause.
This is not the pause you may be thinking of.
The kind of pauses I enjoy are vacations to beautiful places like Florida or Hawaii. But let’s face it, the majority of us don’t get enough of those kinds of trips away. The kind of pause I am referring to is a little different than what you may think.
All Scripture is profitable and for our learning, right? There were many times that Jesus took pauses to pray and reflect. Although, his pauses seem kind of challenging to me. He went up into a mountain for 40 days to fast and pray.
Have you ever tried hiking up a mountain?
I’m honestly not sure if the kind of fast that Jesus was on included abstinence from water (since there are different types of fasts in the Bible). But can you imagine hiking up a mountain knowing you wouldn’t be able to eat for an entire 40 days? That fact is mind-boggling to me, the physical and emotional strength and endurance of Jesus!
Then on one occasion, Jesus rebuked His disciples for not being able to stay awake to pray for an hour in the middle of the night after they had been ministering to people that whole day. 😱
So, yes, Jesus meets us where we are and will provide rest in our every day moments. But I believe loving the Lord with all of your heart and strength will require you to do hard things some times. Sometimes that may mean skipping an hour of sleep to seek His face with all of our hearts. Growing our faith, can push us past our limits. How many times does God’s Word say, “Be strong and courageous”? Many times.
One thing I learned as a new mom is that sometimes rest would simply be a recharge to do a little more.
One time I felt completely exhausted and discouraged. I talked to my husband about it. And back then instead of fueling my complaining, he gave me the oomph that I needed.
He shared the verse in Matthew 11:29 which says, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” I wanted to emphasize the word rest in this verse, but Dan challenged me a little further. He said, “Jackie, the rest in this verse comes from taking the yoke of the Lord.” God gives us rest so that we can accomplish more for Him.
I know everyone won’t agree with that philosophy. But when you are saved, you are Christ’s workmanship created unto good works. We aren’t saved by our works. But because we are saved we work to bring glory to Christ and point others to Him. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
Do you know what yoke (work or burden) that the Lord wants you to carry and partner with Him?
When we are doing Christ’s work, even in the midst of chaos and persecution, we can still find rest in our souls.
My dad also encouraged me with Isaiah 40:31, “but they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
When you rest or wait on the Lord, He gives us the type of strength where you can run and not even be tired.
I am a runner, although not a good long distance runner. So, this verse is so encouraging to me, because I can 100% relate.
I want to share a few ways that you can find rest according to Psalm 62:1,
“Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation.”
First of all, this word waiteth means- silence; rest, quiet, ease from pain.
I love that it means rest! But also let’s look at this definition, “ease from pain.” I have talked to people that have gone through hurts so badly, and by people so cruel it can make me trimmer. People that have faced these pains alone without another human to talk to about it. Many times because they were either threatened not to talk or they were too young to process this type of hurt.
Several years ago, I did research on abuse. Did you know that 1 in 7 adults will have faced sexual abuse as a child. This number is staggering to me! I’m not sure what the statistics are now. Also, for many of them it’s more painful to talk about then it is to just push it down and act like it never happened.
There’s so many pains that people can go through that can keep us in a stressed and overwhelmed state instead of rested.
Although, the Lord desires for us to live in peace and freedom from these painful circumstances. I’ve talked to people in church whose parents blatantly told them that they never wanted them as a child and called them all kinds of hurtful names.
Sorting through these hurts are difficult, but there’s another way through them then living with a victim mentality. You can find rest in your soul.
1. To find rest, my expectation has to be from Christ. (Psalm 62:5)
Many times, when we put our eyes on people we will be let down. “How could this person have done this to me or to my loved one?”
Many times pain doesn’t come from the hurt as much as the pain comes from the one who caused the pain.
Jackie Marie Carr
Expectation- my hope, things hoped for, outcome.
If I am looking for a person to bring me an expected outcome, I will be let down. But when I already know my outcome is already perfect and amazing- the end of the story has already been written, I’m not going to be let down by life or people as easily.
My trust is in the Lord!
2. To find rest, we have to realize Christ is our defence. (Psalm 62:6)
Defence- a cliff, altitude; high tower.
I thought finding rest in Christ as our defence was an interesting definition.
Speaking of Hawaii… A few years ago, my parents gifted my siblings and I to a trip to Hawaii. I will never forget the beauty of Honolulu. When I’d go out early in the morning, I would be in awe of the hazy clouds over those pretty cliffs that seemed like they wanted to touch each other, but were separated by the sunrise and huge Pacific waves.
Honestly, the verse where David says, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:1) took on a whole new meaning.
In those moments with the Lord, seeing His strength and handiwork did more for my soul than almost anything else.
One of the Lord’s names is High Tower, and that’s where my daughter Scarlett’s middle name comes from. The Lord has been a High Tower for me. He’s used His Word so many times to encourage me to keep going, “I can see farther than you can. I know what the outcome is going to be. Even if it looks bad to you. I got this.”
I’ve ran to Him over and over again, and He’s never let me down.
3. To find rest, we must know that God is our salvation and glory. (Psalm 62:7)
Glory- abundance, riches, reputation.
I’m telling you through this Bible study, it was one I just wanted to boohoo through. Every single burden on my heart that I poured out to the Lord, before opening my Bible, the Lord addressed through His Word.
If we put our trust in our bank account or careers, yes, you too will be let down.
We must rest in the glory that the Lord provides.
Does the Lord’s riches always bring about a physical manifestation of money and wealth? Well, sometimes I think it can. God’s Word is full of the riches of His wisdom that created everything. Before the world was even formed, wisdom was there.
Physical riches can be an outward manifestation of the Lord’s wisdom, but not always. There’s many examples of this in the Bible such as Solomon. “The crown of the wise is their riches…” (Proverbs 14:24)
There have been some of the wisest and Godliest people that have been called to serve through faith.
My grandparents are one of my favorite examples of this. Although, they weren’t poor you would not know they had money. My grandfather was a disabled World War 2 hero. He loved to sit and watch old black and white movies as well as watch old boxing matches and the Atlanta Braves play.
One day, I walked into the house to help clean, and it was super quiet. I asked Mimi, “Why isn’t Popa watching tv?” She told me they canceled their cable plan so that they could give more to missions. Chills went up my arms, and my eyes were stinging at the strength of faith my grandparents had. Their later home was very simple, and not really decorated. Yet, they put the importance of their finances to giving to the Lord’s work.
I’m thankful that no matter how many turns life takes you, one month you have a large pay check hit your checking account. Then you go through a season of work that at the end of the year you were in the hole more than what you actually made.
You know that we can find rest in the Lord’s abundance.
He came to give us life more abundantly. That may not always look like what we think it should, but He knows the ending. 🙌
If your reputation is not what you would like for it to be, of course some will tell you to keep trying harder. But you can also find rest in the fact that when you have accepted Christ, you have been adopted into His family. You are accepted in the beloved according to Ephesians. He put His robe of white around you. When He sees you, He doesn’t notice your messed up reputation, He sees His Son’s reputation- clean, holy, and without blemish.
“Trust in him at all times; ye people,
pour out your heart before him:
God is a refuge for us. Selah.”
Psalm 62:8
4. To find rest, we must trust Christ.
Trust- To be confident or sure: -be bold, careless, to feel safe, to be secure.
Wouldn’t you love to go back to the carefree times of childhood sometimes? Running around the playground without a care in the world because your earthly parents took care of your needs.
As adults, we carry the burden of our needs on our own shoulders, and by ourselves many times. While this doesn’t mean we can just sit on the couch all day, eating potato chips, expecting our bills to be paid, and have a perfect bill of health by trusting the Lord. It does mean that we can give the Lord our best and expect Him to help us carry our burdens and give us a rested spirit.
Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning!
5. To find rest, pour out your heart to Jesus.
The verse above says that if we will pour out our hearts to Him, He will be a refuge for us. And then he says, “Selah.” Really reflect on the fact that the Lord wants to keep us safe. More importantly He wants to keep our minds at peace.
“And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding,
shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
(Philippians 4:7)
When we are resting in Christ, He will also give us a boldness that can’t be explained.
The type of boldness that could allow David to believe he could kill a giant with a stone. This boldness is not the same type of boldness that the world gives. It’s a boldness that sometimes doesn’t even make sense. It’s not a boldness that says, “You got this, Girl.” A Godly boldness says, “He’s got this, Girl!”
I hope that this thought encourages you to find rest in the Lord. If you are stressed, overwhelmed, depressed, or whatever the issue… You can find rest in Him.❤️
Love,
Jackie Marie Carr
