Finding Rest in Restlessness

I have talked about and written about rest quite a bit lately. In a season where life has slowed down for me, a season you’d think rest would come more easily, I’ve actually been dealing with unrest more frequently.

The unrest I have been experiencing is more from wrestling spiritually than not resting physically. I sleep well. I just also think well, a little too well at times, to the point of overthinking that leads to anxiety and a lack of true rest holistically.

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”  (Matthew 11:28, ESV)

I recently heard an explanation of Matthew 11:28 that really resonated with me in this season of wrestling more and resting less. It helped me understand how to rest best.

The invitation Jesus extends in this verse in not an invitation to merely take a break from life so we can eventually return to the same cycle of striving, exhaustion, anxiety, and self-reliance.

Jesus is pointing out weariness that comes from carrying burdens we were never meant to carry — Religious burdens, emotional burdens, burdens that bear a heavy weight because we must carrying the weight of trying to control everything while we wait on God to work.

Jesus doesn’t hand out rest in exchange for burdens. He invites us into true rest in Him. His rest is not transactional. It’s relational. He doesn’t give rest out like a “once and done” or “only when we need it” portion. He invites us to “Come to Him” and reminds us in John 15 to “Abide in Him.” Coming to Him (saying yes to His free gift of salvation by confessing our sin and surrendering our life to Him) and Staying with Him (knowing our identity is now in Him and abiding in the Vine is the only way to bear fruit) is the only way to find true, soul rest.

We must invest in that relationship with Him every single day by coming again and again and staying even when we don’t understand what He’s doing — not only when we need it, because the truth is, we need it every moment of every day.

I’m not sure what burdens you need to give to Him today, I know for me, personally, I’ve been carrying the burden of wanting to communicate better when I feel misunderstood. I carry the burden of micromanaging my life and others, because I struggle with trusting God wholeheartedly to lead guide and direct me and others.

I know the answer for every burden I carry (and the burdens you carry, too) is always found in Christ. So why can’t we simply live out that knowledge by trusting him to carry the weight of my burdens for us?

As I reread Matthew 11:28, and studied it a little more deeply, I was reminded that Biblical rest is not the absence of human responsibility, and it is not a reprimand or rigid command to come to Him on demand. It is a gentle invitation to simply come and stay in relationship with Him in order to know Him more and to experience true rest in that place of knowing Him personally and intimately.

I know all that intellectually, but as I read the passage again and looked at the original Greek word for come (Δεῦτε), the Holy Spirit used its definition to whisper a depth of understanding in my soul.

He welcomes us into rest continually. He doesn’t just hand it out willy nilly.

When we let go on our grip of control and rest in Him, our soul is being brought under the humble authority of our king of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ.

Jesus connects rest to the yoke. A yoke sounds like work, but it is the only way true rest is found. We are not freed from every burden by simply becoming unyoked. We are freed by being joined to the Prince of Peace.

Rest is found in Christ because life is found in Christ. “Come to Me” is the ultimate invitation into true rest and to life abundantly and eternally.