Rest For Your Soul
I like to ride my motorcycle around country roads in Platte County in the evening, I call it “chasing the sunset”. On a long ride alone, I am reminded that at the end of the day, it is just me and God. Sure, there are lots of other things that are important in this life, but the most important is my relationship with God. How does the long ride remind me of that? Simply there is nothing else going on and there are all kinds of reminders of Him all around me. Rest for Your Soul.
I have been prone in my life to get all wound up about things, I want to fix everything, I want to do something, I want to solve something. I have carried loads that God never intended me to carry. My wife asked me once what was wrong. I was concerned about a young man I worked with suffering from depression. Her comment was, “How is you getting all stirred up and losing sleep going to help him at all?” Good point.
It seemed like a noble thing to carry burdens for people I care about
It seemed like a noble thing to carry burdens for people I care about, and I have carried quite a few self-inflicted ones. Sure, I am someone who loves people and wants to make a difference, but one day a long time ago, I noticed this passage that an evening like this brings to mind. “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). Jesus said that.
The burdens I was carrying did not come from Him
So the thought that immediately came to mind is that the burdens I was carrying did not come from Him, no matter how noble I thought they were. How do I know they did not come from Him? They were heavy, unbearable, and HIS burden is light! Coming to Him weary and heavy laden, when it is just too much, take His burden, His yoke instead, and instead of sleepless nights, rest for your soul.
Sometimes I do better with this than others. It is something I know, but I have to be reminded. Jesus is not driving us, no, He is gentle and humble in heart. Taking on a chore for Him, sure, it may be work, but His yoke is easy and His burden is light.
So what deep things did I think about out on my ride that brought me back to this? Really not much. It was just rest for your soul. And that is a good idea. It is not His intention for us to get stirred up about a whole lot of impossible things. Instead, we need to give them to Him, because for God, nothing is impossible. Get still, sit still, enjoy God’s quiet, it’s pretty nice. Well, the bike is not still, and it’s not real quiet, but I am not moving very fast, and it was just what I needed.
Contact Northwest Bible Church
