Rest for the Weary

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Matthew 11:28

Okay, I admit, it has been quite awhile since I have written anything. I would say its for lack on inspiration, but the truth is its probably more of a lack of motivation.

Since I'm sitting here not in church this morning due to a malicious case of strep throat, I figure now is as good a time as any to get back on the bandwagon.

Rather than jump right back in, I'm going to rely on the writers of my "Women's Devotional Bible" to help me get started. Recently, my devotions have been in the book of Ecclesiastes. Rather than trying to put this in my own words, I'll just share part of what I read today:

Solomon discovered that finding pleasure is as elusive as catching the wind. He pursued everything imaginable to achieve lasting bliss. But the smartest man alive still had a restless mind. The richest man in the world couldn't buy happiness. The most powerful person in the kingdom was unable to satisfy his own heart. And although he had 700 wives and 300 concubines, he never found true love. His conclusion? These pursuits were meaningless, completely unsatisfying.

Securing happiness in our own life is like trying to catch the wind. We can try to chase it, but it will always remain just out of our reach. The Bible teaches us that instead of searching for happiness, we should allow God's joy and peace to reign in our hearts. Instead of striving for the things we think will satisfy, we can learn to find true contentment by looking to God, whatever our circumstances.

If I were to have read this a few years ago, I would have had a completely different perspective. Allowing "God's joy and peace to reign in my heart was a foreign concept to me. Sounds great, but how in the world do you get there?

Well, here's the thing. That word allow may be easy to rush past, but really its the key part of that sentence.

Try reading it this way: Instead of searching for happiness, allow God's joy and peach to reign in our hearts. Instead of searching...allow.

God never meant for us to go searching for our own way to make ourselves happy. Have you ever tried it? Of course you have. I have. But, like Solomon, and with God's intervention, I too soon realized that our searching is nothing more than "chasing after the wind."

Instead of searching...allow. So what exactly does that mean? How do you allow God's joy and peace to reign?

Ecclesiastes talks a lot about all the things Solomon attempted to do to bring himself happiness. Take a look at chapter 2. He tried cheering himself with wine, undertaking great projects, buying things, accumulating things...yet in the end he determined: "nothing was gained."

I too tried to bring myself happiness. But the only true happiness I found was when I surrendered to God's will. That's where the allow part comes in. For me, I had to put off trying to strive for all these things. I made room for God's peace by clearing the rest of these things out of my heart. Many of them were dreams, but they were selfish dreams. By holding on to them, I was not truly allowing myself to rest wholly on God's sufficiency. When we hold on to them, we don't trust that God is enough.

Does that mean I let these things go and I was done with it forever? Of course not. It's a daily choice. The world is going to tempt you everyday. This or that, if you only had that then you would be truly happy.

Here's the end of the devotion:

The Bible often uses the word blessed, which means "oh how happy." To God, blessed people are happy people and happy people are blessed. Solomon's father, King David, said blessed are those whose sins are forgiven (see Psalm 32:1), who trust in the Lord (see Psalm 40:4), and who draw near to God (see Psalm 65:4). The true source of pleasure is God. Don't waste your time trying to catch the wind; instead, find true happiness by laying hold of the Wind Maker.

Tired of striving, only to find yourself weary and still searching? Instead of searching, try allowing God's peace and joy to reign. Go to the only one who can truly bring you rest.