You restore the “me” you’ve designed me to be. I’ll learn to walk and work from a place of rest.Īs I embrace your rhythms of stillness and movement, you renew my strength, refresh my soul. You guide me “in proper paths for the sake of good name.” I will learn to follow – spirit, soul and body. You let me “rest in grassy meadows.” You lead me “to restful waters.” I will learn not to resist, but to rejoice in, these God-planned interludes. Spirit-to-spirit, I will cooperate with you to learn the unforced rhythms of grace. You tube one last soul for my resting place free#I’ll give you permission to expose, and to free me from, any root issues in my heart that may keep me in such a vise. When I feel trapped in nonstop busyness or frantic unrest, I will seek you until you make a way out. My heartcry is for grace to trust him with my lips and my life, to affirm to him: HeartcryĮach time the Lord Jesus reminds me of his invitation and his promises, I have a choice. Believe me.”Īs we come to him, and come to him, and come to him, our Lord shows us: “Rest? It restores.” He teaches us a new rhythm that calms our life down and turns it around – an unforced rhythm that brings our soul back from the exhaustion where frenzy and fear have kept it. Today, the Spirit of Christ cries to us: “Do not be like them! Come to me. I was provoked, oh, so provoked! I said, “They’ll never keep their minds on God they refuse to walk down my road.” Exasperated, I vowed, “They’ll never get where they’re going, never be able to sit down and rest.” They never got there because they never listened, never believed. In Hebrews 3, God describes his exasperation with his people long ago who believed their soul-clamor, rather than him. We can be driven by a relentless, strident beat. Believing the lies, we can be pulled in all directions by a cacophony of demands. Our high-speed, high-stress culture constantly shouts, “Rest? It’s impossible! And useless! And bad!” Sadly, those lies may seem all too true, especially when our soul is trying to take the lead, rather than falling in line with our Spirit-led spirit. Or, in other translations: “He restores my strength” (NET). Right there, nestled between the stillness of the green pastures and the movement of the right paths are the words: He refreshes my soul. We walk right paths with him, thus highly honoring his name. As we come to the Lord our Shepherd, he teaches us to walk and work from a place of rest. Contrary to everything that insists otherwise, we cooperate with God each time he calls us to stop and be still. As we come to the Lord our Shepherd, he teaches us to make time to rest. He showed the rhythm into which our Lord invites us: an unforced pattern of stillness and movement, and the grace to navigate both without hurry or stress. He tells us the result: “You’ll recover your life.”ĭavid the shepherd-king testified: It’s true!Īnd thus, using images of pastures and paths, David also juxtaposed the two sides of rest. It’s pressing in again and again to know Christ. He tells us the key: “Come to Me.” That’s not a once-and-done thing. That includes times of moving, walking, working, and times of being still. Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. Knowing us better than we know ourselves, Jesus cries to us in Matthew 11:28-29 (MSG): Much that is in us and around us fights relentlessly against rest. And it includes movement – an extravagant assortment of breath-filled acts that delight the Lord and truly rejuvenate us. It includes stillness that emanates from the peace of God within. Rest encompasses what refreshes, spirit, soul and body. We enjoy either aspect of rest only as we learn to embrace both. Our Lord has designed rest as a place to live, and as a pause we regularly take. Today, I remind myself what he has shown me and taught me, in seasons when it has seemed most impossible to believe. At times when I’m totally stressed, the Lord brings me back to the subject of rest.
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