Exhausted? Try Following the Command to Rest

I am tired.  Not the kind of tired that a quick nap or a weekend of Hallmark movies is going to fix.  I am wearied and burdened by my attempts to connect with God and please Him.  Even as I type that, I know how ridiculous it sounds.  After all, God is immanent – He is with us all the time.  He sees our every move. He loves us with an infinite love.  And yet, I have worn myself out in my attempts to connect with Him.  I think a lot of us get to that place.  We read about Paul and his missionary journeys.  We hear about all the great things other Christians are doing.  We hear sermons at church about getting out there and reaching the lost world.  And we start to panic.  Thoughts of “love your neighbor” and “do unto the least of these” and “go and do” start running through our minds.  We start serving.  Then we serve some more.  We never say “No”.  We begin to believe that the church couldn’t operate without us.  We begin to believe that God’s work won’t get done without us.  Somewhere along the way, we begin to believe that we can’t do enough to please God or other people.  We fill up our time, we worry, we question, and we begin to resent.  We resent that we are working so hard and yet not feeling closer to God.  We resent that we are trying our best, but God is not communicating what He really wants us to do.  We resent that no one is taking care of us.  Ever been there?  We are tired!

“They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.”

Isaiah 1:14

The very sad and painful truth is that in that moment, our service, rather than pleasing God, becomes burdensome to Him.  I have been reading Isaiah and I had one of those moments where a scripture jumped out and stared me in the face.  In Isaiah chapter 1, God is speaking to Judah – the southern kingdom of Israel.  The southern kingdom includes Jerusalem, so they are the ones with the Temple.  They are dutifully sacrificing, following all of those rules.  And yet their hearts aren’t in the right place.  They are still being evil.  Now, I’m not the tribe of Judah.  I am not turning to worship statues of other gods or falling into sinful lifestyles.  I am earnestly trying to obey God.  But the point still hit my heart.  God saw all of the sacrifices the kingdom of Judah was offering to Him – He makes that very clear in Isaiah 1.  What He didn’t see was the correct heart condition among the people.  Even though they were being obedient to God by making sacrifices, they were doing it for all the wrong reasons.  They were doing it to appease Him.  They were doing it to earn some gold stars with Him in hopes that it would make up for everything they were doing wrong.  They were working to earn their way.  What did God think about all of this?  What did He say about the work they were doing to give sacrifices?  In Isaiah 1:11, it says: “’The multitude of your sacrifices – what are they to me?’ says the Lord. ‘I have more than enough of burnt offerings . . .’”  He goes on in Isaiah 1: 13 to say, “’Stop bringing worthless offerings . . . I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.’”  Then He finishes in verses 14 and 15 by saying, “Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being.  They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.  When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening.’” Wow.

I want to hear “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Now like I said, if you are a sincere Christian, you are not going to be anywhere near where the hearts of the people in Judah were.  But it still serves as a graphic picture of what happens when we offer sacrifices and service to God for the wrong reasons.  It wearies Him and it burdens Him.  In the case of Judah, their hearts were so far from Him in their sacrifices and feast days that He quit listening to them!  I am pretty sure I am not at that point yet!  But if my struggling to be perfect enough and valuable enough and “Christian” enough for God causes Him to be even a little wearied and burdened, that breaks my heart.  I certainly don’t want that – I want just the opposite.  I want to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” when I meet Jesus face to face.

The people God loved in the Bible had many, many times when they got to be normal instead of super-human.

So how do we serve and sacrifice and do all of those biblically humble and important things in a way that doesn’t weary or burden God or us?  I don’t know that I have a perfect answer to that.  But as I have thought through it and looked at examples of those people whom God said He loved, one thing becomes clear.  There are many, many, many times of inactivity and nothingness in all of their lives.  Times when they are not serving ANYBODY.  Times when they get to just be normal instead of super-human.

Jesus wanted Martha’s relationship more than her service.

Let’s look at some examples.  The obvious one is Mary and Martha.  Martha was doing good things.  She was cooking and setting out plates and making sure everyone was comfortable and fed.  She was sincere in wanting to please Jesus and serve Him.  But she was so distant from Him.  Her mind was on the resentment she felt that she was doing all of the work while Mary sat and listened to Jesus.  She forgot that Jesus didn’t need taking care of.  Jesus could have created His own meal out of thin air.  Jesus just wanted her to rest at His feet and talk to Him.  To be in relationship with Him.  I get like Martha.  I forget that God doesn’t need me for anything.  Everything I could possibly do for Him, He could do Himself – and much faster and better!  He lets me do things for Him to focus my attention on Him so that I want to sit with Him and learn from Him.  Everything is about creating a relationship with Him.

What did Abraham do to earn all of his blessings? Not that much!

Another example is Abraham.  Talk about a relationship with God!  He even had a visit from Jesus in Genesis 18.  Besides that, we are told that Abraham was declared righteous because of his faith in Romans 4:3. Most impressively, Abraham was singled out of all the people on earth to start the family line from which Jesus would come.  He was promised land forever, and bunches of offspring, and the Messiah.  And what did he do to earn all of this?  Well – not much.  No- really!  He didn’t do all that much.  Romans 4:2-3 really emphasizes that:  “If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about – but not before God.  What does Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’”  So what did Abraham do to show his belief?  When God told him to move to a new place, he moved.  When God said he would have a son at 99 years old, Abraham believed Him against all reason.  When God said to sacrifice his son, Abraham took Isaac up the mountain.  And that’s about it.  Abraham lived most of his 175 years tending flocks, raising his family, and being normal.  Not being super-human.  He didn’t go out every day trying to find some work to do for God.  He talked with him.  He even bartered with him over the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.  But mostly he tended flocks and cared for his people.  But on the rare occurrences when God asked for something, Abraham did it.  And he did it praising Jehovah Jirah – the God who provides.  He worshipped God, talked with Him, and, once in a while, built altars to Him.

We have to come, take, and learn, before we can go, give, and teach.

What is the message for us in this?  What is the message for me in this?  First of all, I need to quit wearying myself and God.  Matthew 11:28-29 famously says, “Come unto me, all you who are weary and burdened, 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.”  This is a comforting verse for so many.  But I just started looking at it in a new way because I noticed something.  Do you realize that Jesus says this as a command?  He doesn’t say, “You can come to me when you are weary.”  He says, “Come to me.”  That is an imperative – a command.  He says “come”, “take”, and “learn”.  They are all commands.  The rest of the verse tells us what following those commands will do for us.  In fact, I believe we need to follow these commands before we go out and follow other commands to serve, like the Great Commission. We have to come, take and learn before we can go, give, and teach.  I believe this because if we haven’t spent time sitting at the feet of Jesus, connected with him in a place of solitude and focus, and learned deeply who He is, everything we try to do to serve Him isn’t going to work out very well.  It will just be us trying to earn His love.  We will end up wearying and burdening Him. If you are exhausted – if you are confused about what God wants from you – if you are overscheduled and undernourished spiritually – maybe you need to back off and rest.  Maybe you need to sit and tend your flocks and care for yourself for a while at the feet of Jesus.  Maybe you need to go back to the command to come and rest, take some time with Jesus, and learn about Him.  That is the answer I found.  That is what I have started to practice.  I intentionally build time in my day now to just sit, silently, during my prayer time.  To just think about God and bask in feeling His love for me and really feel what it means to have His Spirit inside me.   I can’t say that I am cured from my over-achieving, perfectionistic self yet.  But I am experiencing more peace and more contentment.  I am feeling places of inadequacy and doubt in my heart being filled with God.  Those moments of silence and solitude at the feet of my Savior are quickly becoming the best of my day.  They are my deep soul-rest.  And they are what are going to equip me, strengthen me, and carry me through when I next hear God say, “Okay, Abraham, it’s time to move.”