Abba's Dearly Beloved

“I will give you rest”

Matthew 11:28 (NIV)

Overflowing Concerns of the Soul

I was reminded of one morning in church a few months back where I was feeling deeply wearied by the tiredness of the working week and weighed down by the heaviness of future uncertainties, anxieties and frustrations clouding my mind. As I began to worship God, the Holy Spirit gave me a picture of a person floundering furiously in water, afraid they would sink if they stopped thrashing. I saw Jesus beside them in the water saying to the person to cease floundering by trying to figure all these problems out frantically on your own, I have got you, my everlasting arms are under you. As the person stopped thrashing they allowed themselves to be carried and supported by Jesus and it was only then that they discovered his arms were more than enough not just to securely support them but to be guided to shallower, calmer water. This was a word not only about trust, but a reminder to look again at the truth which I had temporarily lost sight of in the swirl of angst and frantic busyness darkening my mind: Namely the unwavering hands of Jesus preventing me from sinking; His sovereignty, unfailing love, and faithfulness in a situation that may seem beyond my control but is very much in his as “the Alpha and the Omega” “the beginning and the end.”

Perhaps you dear reader are in need of refreshment from the dry place of mental weariness and struggle which you have found yourself these past few days, weeks or longer. Perhaps you are finding yourself overwhelmed by circumstances in your life and asking where God is to be found in them. You may feel as Elijah did, who exhausted from his recent victory and public refuting of the false prophets of Baal collapsed under a tree in the desert and told God he had had enough (1 Kings 19).

In his place of fatigue and despair and not knowing where else to go, Elijah roamed through the desert to the mountain of God (Mount Horeb). With the anguish of his heart spilling over, Elijah journeyed to a familiar place of refuge where he could seek the face of God. Like Elijah, we in our own mental and spiritual wanderings caused by a weary soul yearn to find a safe place where we can pour out the anguish and exhaustion from our hearts and find rest. As with Elijah, it is in the gentle whisper that God’s loving response to our sorrow and difficulty is found. God was not to be found in the torrent of wind, heat of the fire and shaking of the earthquake on the mountain of God, but rather in the stillness that followed, Elijah encountered the tender whisper of God’s voice: “what are you doing here, Elijah?” God knew the answer of course and was not trying to make Elijah feel ashamed or condemned but providing a compassionate quiet space for him to share his heart and anguish with God:

“He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.””

1 Kings 19:14 (NIV)

From that vulnerable place of stillness secure in a rock of refuge, Elijah recovered his strength and his perspective and was able to return to where God was calling him to be.

Christ’s Whispered Invitation to You

Jesus as the rock of refuge whispers to you his invitation to come to him as you are to pour out your heart to him whatever is on your mind and what is crying out in your heart right now.

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.”

Isaiah 55:1 (NIV)

This renewed invitation is one to come to the well of living water, Jesus Christ of Nazareth to drink but also to a place of rest.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Matthew 11:28 (NIV)

Finally, Jesus’ invitation to come to him is an acceptance of the invitation to be led to still waters as the psalmist says and enter the stillness of God’s presence (Psalm 23:2).

As the ripples of your mind starts to calm in that quiet, gentle, and restful place of fellowship by still waters with your loving Good Shepherd, you find once again who you are and who God is. In agreement with Psalm 46:10, In being still, you once again being to remember and know the God who loves you dearly with an inseparable love, your saviour and fountain of living water, for whom, as a mighty Lord of Hosts, nothing is too hard.

As we come and fix our eyes on our loving saviour and Father God, the Holy Spirit ignites the process of re-orientating our perspective with Heaven and we realised where we are seated: by Christ’s side in the Heavenly Realms with a saviour and God who is able to do exceedingly above what we ask or imagine according to his power at work within us (Ephesians 2:6-7; 3:20).

Dear reader, take comfort today for God offers not only an invitation of refuge and a safe place of comfort for you to pour your cares out unto him but offers you his very self: Jesus, the covenant of new wine poured out freely for you silencing sin and darkness in you, and the person in which you find eternal rest and the ever-flowing fountain and well of living water to quench and still your parched and distressed soul.