What part of STOP don’t you understand?

 

Have you ever been so overwhelmed and exhausted that you find it hard to keep up with all of life’s demands? Have you ever just been tired? Like, really tired. Physically, emotionally, mentally?

But then when you finally take the time to stop, you feel guilty for resting? Maybe you feel like you’re letting everyone down. Including God.

You struggle on but you can’t remember the last time you felt properly rested.

I know the feeling well. I often wake up tired. Work needs me. My family needs me. My household chores need me. There’s another email that needs answering. Another text that needs replying to. Something else that needs attending to.

You keep telling yourself that you should be stronger. You should be able to cope with the workload. You should be able to handle it.

But what if you are placing on yourself more than God wants you to? What if you’re asking more of yourself than God is?

There was a man in the Bible who felt this way. We read about him in the book of 1 Kings, chapters 18 and 19.

Elijah, the great prophet of God, used mightily in so many ways found himself tired and soul weary.

There had been a severe drought and famine in the land of Israel for three years and the people couldn’t seem to make up their minds as to whether they would serve JEHOVAH God or Baal, the idol of the heathen nations.

Elijah realised that the people needed a very real, very tangible example of God’s power to prove once and for all that JEHOVAH God was the only, one and true God. And so, as I’m sure you know the story, Elijah challenged Ahab to a contest on Mount Carmel.

We read the story in verses 23 to 40 and as we know, God got the victory once again and proved himself mighty in the eyes of all who had gathered there.

Now, you would think that after so great a victory, Elijah would be overjoyed, exuberant and in the best of spirits. But then came Jezebel’s threat to have him killed and Elijah fled to the wilderness and found himself sitting in despair under a Juniper tree.

He had just experienced an incredible God moment, but after, his life was threatened, he was afraid and overwhelmed, and he just wanted to die.

And what happened next? He fell asleep.

And as he lay down to sleep and to rest his weary body and soul, an angel came and said those interesting words, “Arise and eat.” Wait, what?

1 Kings 19:5-8 KJV - And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat. And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again.

Yes, you read that right. The angel of the Lord, a special manifestation of God himself, told Elijah to have a snack and take a nap.

Before Elijah did anything else, God gave him what he needed to keep going.

He had experienced great victory and yet he was exhausted, overwhelmed and afraid. There is something you need to hear.

You can be doing something good and still be doing too much if you are not taking time to rest. If you have been taught that to be faithful means always being available or being faithful means always saying yes, you need to remember this story of Elijah.

God cared about Elijah’s exhaustion. God knew he needed rest. And so, he encouraged it.

We can care deeply about people, we can enjoy serving others, but we can still reach a point where we have nothing left to give, if only for a short time.

Did you notice that when the angel woke Elijah, he didn’t tell him to get up and read his Bible? He didn’t tell him to get on his face in prayer. He didn’t even tell him to go and find himself the nearest church to listen to a rousing sermon. Although those are all good things, he wasn’t told to do them.

He was told to eat. Not once, but twice.

He needed a snack and a nap. Something physical that would give him the strength to go on.

God met Elijah in his exhaustion. He met him in the middle of his overwhelm.

Even when you have nothing left to give, you are worth caring for. God sees you in your tiredness.

Have you ever stopped to think about the importance of rest? Did you know that God, when he created the world, built into it a rhythm of rest?

Jesus himself had rhythms of rest in his daily life. The Sabbath didn’t just mean taking a day off, it meant ceasing from labour.

Jesus took times to rest. He went into an isolated place and took time to rest and pray. (Mark 1:35)

He urged his disciples to take time out to rest and refresh. (Mark 6:31)

And the well-known passage in Matthew 11:28-30 reminds us to come to Christ in order to find rest and renewal.

In today’s busy world, rest is sometimes seen as a sign of weakness. But God sees it as important and necessary.

Resting is not a form of weakness but of strength.

What I’m trying to get at is this. When you go through struggles and stress, when you find yourself exhausted and about to boil over, at the point of breaking, remember how important it is to align yourself with the rhythms of rest that God created for you so that you can endure the journey he has for you ahead.

God didn’t just give us food and sleep for our enjoyment and pleasure, but he gave it to us for nourishment for our bodies to help build the strength to keep going.

When we overlook rest, it will affect every area of our life. Our health, our mental and physical ability to function, our attitude, our relationships. All of it.

Elijah had been running and running, doing God’s work, it was good work, but he was wearing himself out in the process. He needed a time of rest.

God wants us to take time to rest.

I’m not talking about laziness here. There are many verses that talk about labour and the importance of diligence and faithfulness and hard work. But rest is paramount.

Our times of rest are not a one-off thing. We need to continually take times of rest. Don’t wait until you’re burnt before you stop. Don’t wait until you find yourself at breaking point.

Build into your life rhythms of rest. Make time for it.

And in case you are not sure what this looks like, let me tell you that rest looks different for everyone.

It may be sitting down with a good book. It may be going outside for a long walk. It may be listening to music while doing nothing. It may be sitting in complete silence and meditating on the Words of scripture. It may be playing a musical instrument. Or it may be as simple as a snack and a nap.

If you are running on empty today, I encourage you to find some time in your day to stop and rest. Even if it’s only for 5 minutes. Find what makes you feel rested and refreshed and work it into your busy schedule.

Rest is a Biblical mandate. Don’t overlook it.

What are you carrying that is not yours to carry?

What are you saying yes to that God wants you to say no to?

What is it that you need that you keep ignoring?

What part of God calling you to rest don’t you understand?

Matthew 11:28

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Take the next step

 

Have you ever had a pair of glasses that were smudged? Perhaps the rain had spattered them or cooking over a pot of oil had caused them to be speckled and hard to see through clearly.

Faith is often a lot like that. It rarely comes with full clarity.

It’s the part I don’t like. I want to know what is going to happen. I want to know how the situation will work out. I want the details, and I want them now!

But that’s not how God works. And it’s not how faith works.

As one author put it, “When you live a life of faith, there are going to be questions that have no answers, because for there to be faith, there has to be mystery. That’s just life in the deep end. It would be nice if we could have the safety of the shore and the potential of the open ocean at the same time, but that’s not how it works.”

What is faith? We all know the verse most quoted when looking for a Biblical definition. It is found in Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Faith involves trust. It involves reliance and confidence in God and his promises which leads to a life of obedience and service, or at least, it should.

Faith is a trust in God’s character, confidence in his promises and obedience as evidence of our belief, trust and faith.

It is not blind or irrational. It is a reasoned confidence based on what God has revealed to us in his word. It is grounded in God’s proven character and promises. It is not blind belief.

It is not just a belief in facts. It’s not a feeling, because faith can operate even when our emotions are all over the place. It’s not just a general optimism, it’s a specific trust in God’s promises.

One of the best examples of faith in God’s Word is found in the book of Genesis.

There is this moment in Abraham’s life, where God speaks to him and tells him to leave his home. God tells Abraham to go. But he doesn’t hand him a road map. He doesn’t hand him a bullet point plan of action. He doesn’t even give him a direction!

Genesis 12:1 KJV – Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:

How many of you could deal with a command like that without baulking? Or without questioning? Yeah, me neither.

We recently sold our house here in Katherine. (a big hip hip hooray celebration!) It was a tediously, long process of back and forth with buyers, conveyancers and the real estate etc and it took absolutely forever! I was so checked out and done by the end of it that I had given up all hope of the sale even going through.

When we put it on the market, we were full of faith and excitement that God would sell it quickly and it would all be over in a matter of months. We thought we could see the way clear ahead. But no. Our glasses soon became smudged and scratched and our sight dimmed. Faith became something we had to hold tight to. We had to trust in God’s character and perfect will. We had to keep believing that he had a plan.

And as always, God came through.

I wonder what was going through Abraham’s mind when God gave the onward, forward command? I wonder what went through Sarah’s (Abraham’s wife) mind? I’m sure it was a huge test of faith and also submission to her husband to follow him into the unknown. God simply said ‘go’. And they went.

The Hebrew word we see here in this verse, for ‘get’ (or go) is yalak. It simply means to walk. Not figure everything out. Not map out the whole journey. Not work out a plan. Simply walk. Just walk.

Which sounds simple. Until it’s your life. And your instruction. Until it becomes personal.

So, God told Abraham to go. And Abraham just goes. God pronounces a blessing upon him and he goes.

Genesis 12:4 KJV – So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.

And that bit gets me. Because I don’t do that. I want more detail. I want more confirmation. I want an itinerary. I want something that will make me feel safer. I want assurance. But that’s not how faith works, is it?

Faith really isn’t having everything sorted. Faith isn’t having a 5-year plan laid out tidily. Faith is just being willing to take the next step.

Even when the glasses are smudged. Even when it’s unclear. Even when it’s uncomfortable. Oh, how we like our comfort.

Abraham is mentioned in the great hall of faith in the book of Hebrews.

Hebrews 11:8 KJV – By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.

This verse reminds us of his obedience. A connection to faith. But it also gives us a little more detail to the story. It tells us that he went out, not even knowing where he was going.

In Genesis, it says he departed. He left. Same Hebrew word, yalak, go, walk. But in Hebrews it elaborates by saying he had no clue where God was calling him to go. Not knowing. That word knowing has to do with understanding. So, he had no understanding of the situation.

And yet, he went. He left blindly. All he had to go on was his trust in God’s character and faithfulness in the past. And that was enough.

Is it enough for us?

What is it that you already know God is asking you to do that you haven’t done yet?

What step of faith do you need to take?

 

2 Timothy 1:7 KJV 

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear;

 but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.