Rest Among Chaos

Carrying the weight of the world, burdens feeling like one thousand pounds. Feeling deflated, weak, incapable. Is this you? Many times, we live our lives at full speed, not slowing down enough to breathe. Eventually, it all catches up to us, whether it be through a breakdown, sometimes through an illness (due to the lowered immune system because of stress), whatever form it may be... it catches up to us. I was never good at rest, still not. My body might rest, but my mind, that's a whole different battle. Now this weight we talk about is obviously not visible, but the effects of it become visible. Your mood changes, easily irritated, you physically feel weighed down, weak, or deflated. It really does take a toll on your body and the people around you.

There's two things I want to talk about in this post. One, giving God our burdens and knowing He can handle them. Two, rest.

1. Give God your burdens and know He can handle them. Often, we feel this weight and at times don't share it with others, thus carrying it alone. While we are carrying it alone, God is waiting for us to realize it's impossible for us to do this by ourselves. We try to be the hero, but we fail... miserably and constantly. Our flesh tries to tell us that we can and need to do this by ourselves. But, God says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."(Matthew 11:28). He doesn't say do it on your own, He says come. I love that He invites our heaviness and offers us rest in the midst of our heaviness. There's this phrase, "God doesn't give us more than we can handle." I'd like to slightly alter it by saying, "God doesn't give us more than HE can handle." By ourselves, everything would be too hard to handle, but when He handles it and we trust Him in that, surely we can make it through. We say "I can't do this." Well, you weren't meant to do it by yourself. In hard times, we push away the one Help we have, God. We push Him away and say like the child who thinks they are the strongest person ever, "No, I can do it by myself. I got it." This is not an easy thing to fix. It's a constant, daily, secondly surrender that requires vulnerability, humility, and reality by saying "God, I can't, but You? You can. Take it." And He wants that. In Matthew 11:28, He takes our heavy and trades it for rest. That's an exchange that sounds amazing. But you see, it REQUIRES us to come to Him. And coming to Him, giving Him our burdens guarantees rest. It doesn't say He might give you rest, He WILL give you rest. Rest requires admitting we can't and giving it to the One who can.

2. Rest. Something the world today absolutely sucks at, while also telling you that rest is bad. We literally try to fill every inch of our schedules. Why don't you have peace? Maybe because you've been following the worlds "5 steps to peace" instead of God's steps. Come, rest. It doesn't mean your situation will change or you're at peace with your situation. It simply means, because it's in His hands, you can rest. It's like when you're little and your dad or mom holds you and you know, I'm ok. I'm safe. You can rest in your Father's arms, no matter what you're going through. Run to Him and just melt into your Father's arms. Rest is something He wants for you, something He offers. But again, it requires surrender, as well as trust. In Psalm 23 it says, "The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul."(Psalm 23:1-3). Everyone of those, laying down in green pastures, lead beside quiet waters, refreshing the soul, all of those are peaceful, lead to rest. One of my favorite verses, Psalm 46:10, "He says, 'Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.' " Be still. REST. The Bible is literally filled with rest. Resting in Him. Come to Him, trust Him, be still because you know who holds it all, it all leads to rest.

None of this is easy. It's always a daily struggle, a daily humble surrender. It requires admitting the impossibility alone, but acknowledging the possibility with Him. The world is not the answer to your heavy. The world doesn't offer rest, it offers chaos disguised as rest for a moment. But eventually the curtain is drawn back.

John 14:27- "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."

He gives us peace and it is oh so different from the worlds. Rest. Rest. Rest. Have I said it enough? You are invited to REST and peace, will you choose to run or come to Him? There's only one answer that will lead to rest, the other will continue to take you away from it.