A Bold Step

READ: PSALMS 23:1-3; 116:7; MATTHEW 11:28-30

Let me take you several thousand feet above sea level. It’s a warm, summery day, and the sun shines hot on your head. Sweat runs down your back. You’ve just climbed from the bottom of Yosemite to the top of a mountain. Green trees fill the park as far as you can see. Mountains surround you. The normal response would be to sit down and enjoy the view, right?

I was a really busy high schooler. Between classes, being part of a college orchestra, musicals, a leadership team, band, homework, and friends, I felt like I was always busy.

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that Jesus is in control, and that means we don’t have to work all the time. Just like resting was appropriate after I climbed that mountain, it’s good to rest after working hard. Jesus is working even while we rest.

Psalm 23 says, “He makes me lie down in green pastures.” I’ve read that Psalm so many times, but recently someone pointed out that Jesus makes us lie down in those green pastures. As our good shepherd, He knows we need rest because we still live under the exhausting curse of sin.

Resting is worship because it’s a physical way to show our trust in what Jesus can do, not in what we can do. That’s a bold step, especially when the culture we live in seems to define success by how busy we are. But true success is resting in the power of Jesus. It’s following Him through every season—the busy and the slow. That’s called trusting—and that, my friends, brings glory to Jesus!

Sometimes, we forget that God is always with us. But through the Holy Spirit, we can enjoy being with Him. We can love Him more than our busy agendas. As we learn to rely on Him in the quiet moments, we will grow in our ability to rely on Him in the chaos. It’s in the quiet moments of rest that our hearts are changed by God’s love, and when a changed heart meets the busy world, we get the privilege of impacting it with Him! • Sarah Rexford

• What keeps you from resting?

• We can rest because Jesus loves us, He has already defeated the curse of sin by dying on the cross and rising from the grave, and He’s coming back to free us completely from that curse. Rest doesn’t just mean “not doing” something. Rest can be doing something you enjoy that helps you feel refreshed. What are some activities you can find rest in? How could you rest today and show you trust Jesus’s timing more than your own abilities to get things done?

The LORD is my shepherd…he refreshes my soul. Psalm 23:1-3 (NIV)