We run helter skelter daily, chasing
What will earn us rest then return, worn out
By fruitless pursuits. We can’t get or place it:
Rest is not acquired or secured by our pursuits.
Everyone like you and me, keeps hopping about
Chasing for more. We forget: more can’t give
What we don’t already have. Accomplishments
Connections, positions and possessions
Don’t work miracles of life, health and love
Of grace, peace of mind and contentment
More only feeds cravings for so much more
But rest becomes us whether with much
Or naught, we learn in God to trust
And obey and therein find fulfillment.
Food For Thought: I know people who have been working all their lives and yet are so far from contentment. Lives almost spent, earnings going as fast as they are coming, and the security for which we worked still eluding. The jobs and savings we hoped would sustain us are failing. Social security and support systems we trusted in are crumbling. Governments that claimed they will work our good are disappointing. Politicians that promised heaven on earth are exposed as exploiters whose only cares are their deep pockets. Organizations we thought would speak for us are losing their voices, compromising, swayed by selfish tides, disappearing. Rugged systems have proven fallible, trusted people have failed, so where next do we turn? Some have resolved to work harder, get additional jobs and add private practices on the side. Rather than the rest we seek, we are drawn and torn all over the place, worn and wearied and still so far from destination. It is not by working harder: making more money doesn’t guarantee more savings. Those who sold us the savings and investment scheme didn’t provide shield for deteriorating economies around the globe. At the end of the day, it has come down to the same question that we set out to answer in the beginning – where is the path to rest? It is not in hard work, tight budget, and robust savings. Rest is in God who blesses our bread, multiplies our seed, guides our steps, and preserves us from what consumes others. It is not in bumbling about for more but through trust and obedience as we seek God, as we learn and grow thereby; living God, every day, with everything, in every way, that we enter into rest.
Scripture: Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11: 28.
Prayer: Dear Lord, when troubles arise and tempers rise, keep my heart resting on Your Word, wrapped within Your peace, amen.