Rest in Hope

“Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” – Matthew 11: 28-30

It is that time again, the afternoon, after lunch, when I feel a nap is a must. Something has to give, and it can’t be me anymore. This is a daily thing, a true story, my story for way too long. I feel that the only way I can do all things is when I am amped up on coffee. Don’t get me wrong, I love coffee, but when you consume so much it starts to have the opposite effect of waking you up, then a change is needed.

Recently I did a cleanse that was so simple, and it made it possible for me to actually complete it. The one problem was giving up my multiple cups of coffee and minimizing it to one a day. This seemed impossible prior to starting, but after I made my mind up and plunged in, it wasn’t that difficult at all. This was part of the solution to my tiredness, and the results proved extremely beneficial.

There are those things in life that weigh us down because they are more plentiful than we can carry. You know the tasks that we sign up for in hopes we find something that has always been missing. Maybe what we are working for is success, accolades, a pat on the back, a job well done, or a look at me, do you see all I have done and can do? This is an endless search and many times will only deplete us, never filling us as we had hoped. We can be left weary as we do and do more, while endlessly searching for our place and purpose in this world.

If we think about our doing, do we always do more for good purposes? Or do we do more, hoping to find we are good because of our own purposes? I have found that my worth does not come from what I do, and when I do more than I am able to bear, I am only left weakened, defeated, and weary. This makes it difficult to face the heavy things that this world may throw at us. You know the things that are inevitable in a broken world like pain, loss, and grief. In these places, we see no hope at all, if we look to our own selves to understand them.

Life’s weariness isn’t always that easy to fix. In fact, there are many things that we can never change, alter, or fix. What heaviness this is. Living while carrying these burdens can most assuredly lead us to a place of despair. Despair is defined as the complete loss or absence of hope. This is a dark place and one that weighs heavy on our hearts. I know this place a little too well. There have been times life hit me out of nowhere taking my breath away, and not in awe, but more like a gut-wrenching sucker punch. These are the things that are out of our control, and no amount of cleansing can restore a hopeful outlook. We are left in despair, and aware that we can not fix or change this situation, no matter how much we do. However, there is hope here!

Hope is not something we can manufacture on our own, and it is not brought on by sunny days, or easy ways. We cannot build what was already built perfectly by God. We are His creation, made in His image, and meant to be in a dependent relationship with Him. You see, we need Him. Not the other way around. This truth is exemplified in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. John 3:16, ” God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. Look at John 3:17 as it reveals Jesus came to save us.

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”           – John 3:17

This truth reminds us that we do not have a role in this, other than believing and receiving. The answer to our greatest weariness is and has always been Jesus.

So, in that truth, we can rest, because it is in Him that we find rest. He is our hope for life eternal, and for life here and now. In this, we can lay down the heavy burdens that unexpectedly take us off guard, and weigh us down. No more do we have to strive for our perfect selves only to find how far we are from perfect. It is in His perfect love that we are invited to rest, as He carries that which we cannot. The invitation to come and rest was given by Jesus, and the promise was fulfilled by Jesus. He is our hope for endless striving, our constant failing, and our comfort in our greatest sufferings.

If you are striving to make or create your own space, worth, hope, or a way to God, read Matthew 11:28-30 again, and consider His invitation. No need to strive for that which is freely given. We can let go and find all we need in Him. The heavyweight can be lightened, even if things around us remain heavy. and the pain is oh-so-real. Practically speaking this looks like walking by faith, relying on the sufficiency of God’s grace, and looking to Jesus for our place to rest. When we rest there we are safe, secure, and held by the Living Hope of God.

Blessings,
Anne Blanchette