Let Him Handle the [Rest]
“This day has flown by!”, is a phrase I find myself saying every single day -as if I hadn’t just stated it the previous day. With the seasons currently changing, I feel like everything is literally in fast forward motion..including my life.. On the contrary, I feel like I am in slow motion, trying to keep up.
If I had to illustrate it, it would look like me physically juggling a few items, throwing one thing in the air and catching the other. Then the next thing I know, more items are aggressively being thrown into the mix but because they’re so significant, I better not dare make the mistake of dropping one.
Things like time management, finances, relationships, intimacy with God, ministry, time with family, rest, physical healing and my future are the many things in my juggling cycle. Who else has been juggling your own concerns of life? Whether it be motherhood/wifehood, work-life, school, healing from trauma, prayer life, or productivity; we are all working to maintain a healthy balance of it all. If I am being honest, I’ve dropped more than a few this past week -if not, all. Whew.. That’s deep.
But what’s even deeper.. As I knelt down to pick up what felt like a million little failures; Jesus was already there picking them up for me; gently and humbly offering His partnership. Moreover, He didn’t just pick up the pieces and hand them right back to me. No, He exchanged all of the things from my juggling cycle for His rest and His burden. The same soul rest that is a product of His [easy] yoke and [light] burden described in Matthew 11:28-30 which says:
28Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.
29Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
How beautiful is it that our Lord Jesus, invites us to come to Him? How tragic is it that we often don’t recognize His invitation or we resolve to respond in a way that presumes “I got it, I’m good.” Only, we don’t always have it and we’re not always good. Otherwise, Jesus wouldn’t have spoken these words in Matthew 11:28. And we know that all scripture is God-breathed so It cannot lie. On the other hand, we don’t have to be good or have it all figured out. Instead, we can accept Jesus’s invite to “teach us because He is humble and gentle and we will find rest for our soul.”
When we think about the character of God, we sometimes skip over His attributes named here in Matthew 11; “gentle and humble.” In today’s society, we have such a false perspective of gentleness, that it gets a negative connotation. But if God calls Himself gentle and we truly believe that everything about God is good; how can meekness or gentleness be a deficiency? Could it be that we’ve placed our experiences with people on God? I sure did, for a brief moment. But I am so grateful that He met me where I was, as I attempted to pick up the pieces on my own. He realigned my perspective as I accepted His help. And I am praying that you’d take the humble step in doing the same because truth be told, it is for our ultimate good!!
Although, when we think of authority, our minds go to anywhere but “gentle”. Maybe we haven’t dealt with many gentle individuals in our lifetime. Well, it’s a good thing that Jesus isn’t like man. Jesus is set apart. He is sovereign -all powerful and because of this; He doesn’t have to operate in an assertive way just to prove that He is God. Rather, it is because of His supreme power that He can be soft with us. Gentleness & humility are apart of His authority & power. It is in His tenderness, that He meets us where we are and gives us what He knows we need. While we do see some assertive, bold ways of God in scripture (often times proceeding rebellion); we cannot let that blind us to His kind, humble and meek character.
After all, it was in my place of what felt like failure that Jesus revealed that I was only in a place of temporary struggle. It wasn’t until I got into a place of quiet communion with God that I was met with a gentle whisper of reassurance. I realized I hadn’t let Him down, I wasn’t incapable, my future would not be in disarray. Those were just lies that I needed to place in Jesus’s hands so that I could take on His yoke -which is “easy to bear” & His light burden. As crazy as it sounds, I appreciate having to experience moments of weakness and uncertainty. Because while humans may try to push perfectionism & self-sufficiency; my sweet Jesus reminds me that it is not in more striving but more surrendering.
So today, I choose to let my soul rest in the tenderness of God. He is in control, so I don’t have to be. And neither do you! My good sis, Jesus really does stick closer than a brother. Even when He seems hard to trace, God will indeed “make all of His goodness pass before you” [and I], like He did for Moses when Moses pleaded for God’s presence to go with him as he handled the responsibility of leading God’s people (Exodus 33:19a). Just as He is gentle with you, be mindful to be gentle and merciful with yourself. We can sometimes be our own worst critics. We are not superwoman. We are not robots. And we are far from perfect. Our God does not expect us to be and because HE is the greatest power, no one else can expect this of us. Sis, you are doing an amazing job!! So let’s resolve to do what we can and leave room for God to handle the REST.
Lets pray:
Heavenly Father, we just take a moment to adore Your ways. You are so kind and patient with us. You’re love for us never ends. You are all-powerful & yet gentle. Your ways are too great for us to comprehend! Forgive us for any false perspective that we have of You. Purify our perspective, Lord. Line up every lie and every obstacle that has been in our way and confront it so that we can live in the fullness You offer. Help us to recognize and accept Your assistance and gentleness. Help us to strive less and surrender more. May our souls find rest as we do. We pray according to Your Word in Psalm 18:35, that You would give us the shield of your salvation, that your right hand would support us [in all things], and may Your gentleness make us great!! We want You, Lord. So meet us where we are. All for our good and Your glory.
In Jesus’s name, amen.
