Rest

Have you ever found yourself answering the, ‘How are you?’ question with, ‘Busy!’? I know I have, but I have also answered many times with, ‘Tired!’ Busy and tired are so closely linked with me.

It has been a strange season. There have been quite a few adjustments to my daily routine since I have moved. I no longer have to drive my daughter to school, I can lay in a little longer in the morning, I take a slightly longer walk with my dog, evening meal times are later because of family work shifts and my husband has been around a fair amount while work picks up for him. I have enjoyed going out in the morning for a surprise hot drink and maybe a scone with my him or making new friends at the weekends. It has felt a bit decadent to be honest!

I have noticed that by doing lots of these lovely things I feel a little bit more refreshed and rested.  Good things can make us feel good. However, the last six weeks or so I have been feeling exhausted. I wrote the first draft of another book in November, had a great time doing so but my brain felt a bit mushy from the concentrated creativity. Christmas was a wonderful but very busy time visiting family and socialising. The sun has only made a few glorious appearances and the grey days tend to leave me tired. All these factors have an impact.

I’ve been thinking on it and why I have responded physically so differently over the last short while.

The one thing that has changed the most is my time reading my Bible. It is the one thing that got pushed to one side too many times in favour of other things. My daily app would tell me that my reading was ready and would often go unread while my Bible journal slowly got hidden under items on the side table where I sit in my lounge. My life seemed to be taken over by busyness. I had filled my life with good things but not the best thing.

Like I said last week, it was time to get back in the race again. There are plenty of read the Bible in a year programs that I could have joined but I knew that journaling steadily through the Bible, however long that takes me would be my first choice. Picking up my Bible felt like I had to battle through a whole layer of shame telling me how awful I was, how I was a useless Christian, how I shouldn’t be allowed to be doing what GOD had planned for me … but I know the voice of my Father, and that wasn’t him. He was delighted that I had chosen to be with Him.

The page I am blogging about today, isn’t the page I journaled after the recent re-ordering of my busyness but has everything to do with it.

This verse in Deuteronomy 33 talks of the tribe of Benjamin being beloved and the one the Lord loves. It speaks of where this people belong all day long.

About Benjamin he said:

“Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him,
for he shields him all day long,
and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders.” Deuteronomy 33:12

Resting between His shoulders is the best place to be. The place of protection, security, empowerment and vision. It is the place where no matter how vulnerable you feel, you are shielded and carried. A child finds this place with their father or parent.

They are not overcome by busyness; they are held. They don’t have to impress or earn affection; they are loved and beloved. They find a safe place to rest. They can sleep in safety.

This verse is a reminder of where I should let my Father position me; leaning on Him. It isn’t about striving to find a way to Him but letting Him be my strength. There is nothing I have to prove because He knows me completely and still welcomes me. His invitation and offer to me is to rest between His shoulders … I need to make it my choice.

It helps me to remember that rest is a gift to the ones He loves. Providing rest is something that GOD designed at the very beginning when He demonstrated resting on the seventh day. This was His seventh day, but mankind’s first day. Everything for us should begin in rest not working towards rest. Rest is the starting point not the end reward. We don’t live in world where rest is valued but is devalued and regarded as weak; the enemy wants us to be exhausted. If GOD considered it to be necessary to give rest as one of the first blessings to mankind, I think we should value it highly.

It also tells me that rest doesn’t just happen when it is quiet and peaceful but in the midst of all the stuff that bombards and demands. I can rest secure in Him, for He shields me all day long. Rest is not just about sleeping. Rest is a positioning. Instead of anxiety and worry, I have a choice to rest secure in Him knowing that He shields me.

To find rest in Him, I need to find Him! The best place for this is the Bible and so that is where I know I need to rush to and make a priority. As I have chosen to read and to rest in Him again, I have already noticed the difference as lots of things have slotted back into place. I will mess up and fail a vast number of times this coming year, month or even week, but I know that He will always be my place of rest.

I’m wondering how many of you are feeling weary like I was when He invites us to rest in Him. There are many things we can do to help us feel less weary, but only there is only one place that offers true rest.

If you want to find rest in Him, how are you going to intentionally do it? How will you position yourself? There are probably some things that you could change in your routine that will provide the opportunity to lean into Him. In the past I’ve used worship music whilst I cook, teaching podcasts while I walk the dog, setting an alarm to remind me to pray on my phone and putting my Bible where I can see it. What will you do?

Katy 😉