A rest for the weary

There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. Hebrews 4:9 nkjv

When the doors of Ravensbrück concentration camp closed behind people in WW2, most prisoners despaired, but not Corrie ten Boom, who believed God had put her there to share His love. She was miraculously released one week before her scheduled execution. Afterwards, she traveled throughout the world sharing a message of forgiveness and reconciliation. In time she was felled by a stroke that took away her voice and left her bedridden. God then called her to the ministry of prayer. And pray she did, for people all over the world.

But there might be times when you are so down that you can’t even pray. As Hudson Taylor approached the end of his life he wrote, “I am so weak that I cannot work; I cannot read my Bible; I cannot even pray. I can only lie still in God’s arms like a child, and trust.”

There are times when all you can do is trust, realizing that God has not forsaken you or made you a target of abuse. Though you may be weak and devastated, you can rest in Him, entrusting yourself and your care to Him.

There is an amazing rest, however, that comes as God embraces and comforts you – one that strangely defies circumstances and logic. Through the psalmist, God instructed, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). The word we translate “be still” means, “cease from your striving.” To do this means to realize that resting in the Lord is doing something powerful and worthwhile, that it isn’t wasted time.

When your strength is gone and you can’t even read your Bible or pray, you can rest in the strong arms of Jesus and learn that you are underneath the everlasting arms of a loving God who will not let you drown in your sorrow or pain.

For the sake of his great name the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own. As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right. Be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.

I Samuel 12:22-24