I'm really tired today. Dunno why. Maybe it's because it's such sit-on-my-couch-with-my-blankie-and-my-cat-and-a-really-good-book weather today... Maybe it's just a bunch of late nights attending the Walter Veith seminars that have caught up with me... but I'm tired. Bone tired.
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Robin says I need a cracker under my butt. The way I'm feeling right now, it would have to be a cracker of sputnik proportions. A butt cracker ... crotch rocket. Haha. OK, clearly tired = crass / gross in Char's books. Well, they have banned fireworks in Natal. So I'll have to find another pick-me-up.
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Ideas, anyone?
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I keep thinking of that verse that says "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." [Matthew 11 v 28] Isn't that encouraging? Some of the other newer translations say "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Man, that verse is a perfect description for me today. I am weary and burdened. So, how do I lean on God even in being tired? The next verse says: "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." Isn't that interesting? There's a lot to be said about the "take my yoke" part. But today, the part that interests me is that next bit... the "learn from Me" bit.
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Isn't it time we all learned from Jesus? What did He do when He was bone tired?
- He rested.
- He went to a quiet place alone and prayed. There are countless references to Him going somewhere quiet to pray [e.g. Matt 14 v 23, Mark 6 v 46, Luke 9 v 28]. It wasn't even unusual for Him to pray through the night [Luke 6 v 12].
Clearly, if it was only about being physically tired, Jesus would simply have slept, and not gone and prayed through the night, right? When Jesus was emotionally drained, it was His Heavenly Father that strengthened Him. And the channel of that empowerment was? Prayer.
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Remember the time He was so physically tired that He slept right through the splashing waves and the rocking boat and His disciples' terrified screams? Now that is tired. It's also something more though. It's a testimony to His divinity that even in His total exhaustion, He was aware that the wind and the waves would obey Him. He could rest in the knowledge that nothing was beyond His control. Why wouldn't the wind and the waves obey Him, if it was His voice that had called them into existance at creation?
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Today, I qualify. I am weary and burdened. Notice, He doesn't say "come to Me, all who are perfect and without sin and totally capable of doing-it-yourselves." The only qualification is being weary and burdened. None are excluded. He will GIVE us rest. It's a gift!!! I love presents. Don't you? Every good and perfect gift is from above. [James 1 v 17] Even rest.
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Maybe I should do exactly as Jesus advised. "Come unto Me."
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The clincher for me though is the end of the verse. Listen to this part: "...learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." Who better to run to for rest, than a God who is gentle and humble in heart? A God who cared enough about us, that He even created rest, just for us. And surely when we learn from Him, as the verse tells us, we too will become gentle and humble in heart?
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What an awesome God we serve.
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So, spare me the crackers, people. God has a better plan for me.
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