Today's Devotional

August 22, 2005

Subject:  Get Some Rest

Matthew 11:28 - "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

I think that more than half of all of our problems can be related to being tired or fatigued.  I thought about this recently as I observed the day and night difference between the conduct of my daughters when they go to bed early and when they go to bed late.  Since school has begun their 8:30 bed time is necessary to ensure that they are prepared to wake up each day ready to learn.  I've also noticed that there is less whining, fussing and fighting during the week due to this.  

Perhaps that's our problem too.  Are our battles and our continual complaints each day due to insufficient rest?  Perhaps.  Consider that most people don't get the recommended 8 hours of sleep daily and maybe that will explain why people fight over and complain about the most insignificant things.   With work, family and even leisure activities spending more and more of our time and energy, it's hard to get some rest.  Well God's got an answer for that.

Amazingly, His answer doesn't tell you to stop working, although that might be necessary in some cases, but what He says to do is simply to "come unto Me."  See the problem isn't that we're doing so many things, it's that we're doing so many things in our strength and there just isn't any rest in that.  Working and laboring in God's strength is where we find rest.  That's because His work is easy and that's not due to us, but due to Him.  The work He has prepared for you makes it that way.  So if you're tired today, get some rest, His rest.

Carlen