I was up early with a toddler who needed to go back to sleep. And I was soooo tired.
It had been over an hour already — he woke me up at 4:30 — and I knew I’d get back to bed soon, but apparently not quite yet because he was still rolling all over the place and making new, weird boy noises with his mouth while listlessly kicking the wall, petting the cat, and hitting his mattress. Sigh.
Why do we fight rest? We start early, like this. But some of us keep doing it far into adulthood. Maybe all our lives. It’s something I have always struggled with.
Maybe, partly, it’s because we’re made to do stuff. We are made in the image of the Creator, so we’re made to create. We have ideas and energy, and we doers and dreamers need to move on them before they wither or dissipate.
But the Creator rested, too — and I’m pretty sure He didn’t have to, so I wonder if He did it just to be an example to us. Have you ever tried to get a toddler to go to sleep by shutting your eyes and setting the example, pretending to sleep? We need to see what our Father is doing, and be in the habit of doing it, too.
Jesus, help us to rest well. Help us to steward our days and do what we can, and trust You with the rest, so we can rest.
The Lord knows the things you dream about, but He still wants you to tell Him about them.
He also knows the longings you have that you don’t have words for yet, or that you don’t yet realize you’re carrying.
Have you noticed His grace lately, or do you still feel like you need to earn things like His favor, love, provision, and protection?
Kids don’t earn those things. They’re just favored and loved and provided for and protected because that’s what parents do.
Even if your parents didn’t do that, God does. He is the best, first, and final parent. He loves you and there’s nothing you can do to make Him love you more. Or less.
He loves you because that’s who He is. So His grace and gifts are right there for the taking. Be honest with Him about the things you dream about, and what you’ve been longing for, and what you’ve always wondered about. See what He has to say about them. He likely had something to do with putting those dreams in your heart in the first place.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
— Ephesians 1:3
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
— Ephesians 1:7-10
Someone is hoping you’ll be brave enough to speak up about and do the thing that’s been on your heart. The conviction you’ve been feeling about it isn’t just for you; it’s also for those whose lives will be changed by it, and for those who will see your obedience and be emboldened to do hard things, too.
Moving past your fears and resistance will equip you to obey God more and more. It will make you stronger. It will expand your comfort zone, making the hard things become easier things.
But not obeying will do the reverse. There’s no neutral in this – either you grow forward, more like Him, or you shrink back, and become less than you’re meant to be.
There’s joy on the other side of obedience, and it’s bigger than the insecurities you feel or the excuses you want to make. You are bigger than that. You’re made to do the exploits the Lord is calling you to.
Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.
For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”
But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
— Hebrews 10:35-39
We can rest in the One who carries us.
We can look ahead and know that nothing threatens us.
We can look back and know we did the best we could when we were abiding. And we can repent for when we didn’t abide, and still move forward.
We can face the work in front of us and know that we can do hard things: They don’t necessarily have to be fun, but they don’t have to be as miserable as we suspect they might be, either. And we will come out stronger and smarter, regardless.
We win no matter what. We refuse to partner with dread or agree with fear. We choose to walk in peace, one powerful step at a time, and move to the other side of this assignment. We may not like it, but the Lord has plans to use us mightily if we’ll surrender to Him in the midst of it.
The Kingdom will expand. The enemy’s stronghold will contract. Light will shine into dark places, and truth and justice will pour out.
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